IAEA offers talks with Ukraine and Russia in Chernobyl

Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi offered to visit the Chernobyl zone and meet there with representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides.

Report informs, citing UNIAN, that he made the remark at a press conference after the shelling and seizure of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Russian troops.

Grossi cited data from the state enterprise Energoatom, according to which, the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is "still very tense". The official pointed to seven principles for managing nuclear facilities, the first of which - the physical integrity of facilities - has already been violated at the ZNPP.

“We were lucky that there was no radiation leak and the integrity of the reactors themselves was not compromised, unlike the plant in a broader sense. But it is obvious that when we all agree with these principles, words must mean something and we must act respectively," he added.

Grossi recalled that Ukraine had applied to the agency with a request for immediate assistance.

"The idea behind this initiative of mine as the chairman of the IAEA is to reach a framework solution and a compromise that will not compromise these principles signed by all of us," he explained.

The head of the IAEA acknowledged that the trip "will not be easy", but he considers it possible. Answering journalists' questions, he added that the main purpose of such a trip is negotiations. Both parties have received an offer and are considering it.

"There are several technical characteristics that make it desirable to do it there (in Chernobyl) in order to have better ideas, and also to be more effective in terms of diplomacy. Of course, in the end, there can be many different formats. We want to show the readiness of the IAEA here to move and do something, not just tweet and say something from Vienna," Grossi said.