LVIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called on the United Nations to ensure security at the Zaporizhzhia power plant, where increased fighting has raised fears of a nuclear incident.
"The UN must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarisation and complete liberation from Russian troops," Zelensky said in a statement after meeting UN chief Antonio Guterres in Lviv.
The Ukrainian leader also criticised "deliberate" Russian attacks on the facility. Ukraine and Russia have been accusing each other of targeting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant -- the biggest in Europe -- which Russia seized last March.
Tensions around the power plant have fuelled global fears of a nuclear disaster. The two leaders also discussed grain exports, after a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey allowed their resumption this month.
Exports had been blocked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. "We agreed to continue the coordination of the grain initiative implementation. We also discussed the possible directions of its development," Zelensky said.
The first ship to depart under the deal left Ukraine on August 1 Since then, 25 cargo ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports. Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s biggest grain exporters. The halt of exports led to price increases globally amid fears of widespread food shortages, particularly in poor countries.
Zelensky and Guterres also spoke about deportations of Ukrainians to Russia, and about the release of military staff and medics taken prisoner by Russia, according to Zelensky. In Moscow, the defence ministry said Russia could shut the plant down if it came under further attack.Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planning to shut the plant to sever it from Ukraine's power grid and switch it over to Russia's - effectively stealing its output.
Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom said shutting down the plant would increase the risk of "a radiation disaster at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe". Disconnecting the complex's generators from Ukraine's power system would prevent them being used to keep nuclear fuel cool in the event of a power outage at the plant, it said.
Shutting down a nuclear power plant is a complicated operation that requires halting nuclear chain reactions while protecting fuel from heating up and causing a meltdown. "Should Russia take actions to force (the plant) off the Ukraine power system, that could threaten the operational safety of the station, in addition to escalating Ukraine's energy crisis into the winter," Mark Hibbs, senior fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters in an email.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw Turkey’s support behind Ukraine and warned of the danger of "another Chernobyl" disaster erupting at a nuclear power plant held by invading Russian forces.
The Turkish leader met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv just two weeks after flying to Sochi for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the two sides pledged to boost economic cooperation.
But Erdogan told reporters that Nato member Turkey remained firmly on Ukraine’s side in the conflict and would continue its diplomatic efforts to end the fighting. "While continuing our efforts to find a solution, we remain on the side of our Ukraine friends," Erdogan said.
His talks with Zelensky and visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres -- both men’s first since Russia’s February invasion -- came with global alarm rising about fighting that has raged around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Russian-held facility has been experiencing days of shelling. "We are worried. We do not want another Chernobyl," said the Turkish leader. Erdogan only mentioned Putin once in his comments to reporters. "We discussed the exchange of prisoners of war and our initiatives in this regard," Erdogan said. "We will continue to talk about that with Putin."