Monitors demand security zone around Ukraine nuclear plant

Bloomberg

International monitors demanded the immediate establishment of a security zone around a Russian-occupied nuclear plant in southern Ukraine in order to reduce the potential for an atomic accident.
The International Atomic Energy Agency called for a halt to shelling and the need for “the urgent establishment” of a nuclear safety and security zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the agency said in a 52-page report published Tuesday that details damage at the facility.
“The IAEA remains gravely concerned about the situation,” the report said.
Monitors last week made their first visit to the Zaporizhzhia station —Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant —since Russian troops seized it six months ago. Increasing attacks since July have damaged infrastructure and cables critical for safety. Two IAEA inspectors remain at the plant to monitor developments.
The report detailed the presence of Russian military vehicles and advisers from state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom at the plant. Its authors were particularly critical of deteriorating work conditions that the Ukrainian technicians face, even as they’ve kept the reactors operational amid the war.
“The IAEA considers that the presence of Rosatom senior technical staff could lead to interference with the normal lines of operational command or authority and create potential frictions when it comes to decision-making,” the agency wrote. The “constant high stress and pressure” on the Ukrainian staff is unsustainable and risks resulting in human error, it said.
The Vienna-based IAEA said it was ready for negotiations over how a security zone around the plant could be implemented. Inspectors continued to refrain from assigning responsibility for attacks on the plant. Both Russia and Ukraine have blamed the other side for the strikes.
Inspectors “noted with concern that the shelling could have impacted safety related structures, systems and components.

End war soon as time favors Russia, urges Ukraine’s PM

Bloomberg

Ukraine’s allies should do their utmost to help end Russia’s invasion fast as Moscow is willing to keep fighting for a long period, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“We understand that time will play to Russia’s side so we, all together with our allies, with our partners” should do our best “to finish this war as soon as possible,” Shmyhal told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Brussels. Russia “is interested to go for longer time, to take more time,” which is “a challenge for all of us,” he added.
Ukraine is scoring some military successes in its southern regions as well as in the north, Shmyhal said without elaborating, voicing the hope that the nation will be able to liberate the whole of its territory within internationally recognized borders, including Crimea.
Shmyhal said that Ukraine is fulfilling all its gas transit obligations toward European customers.