The head of the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, has declared himself exasperated at the lack of progress in establishing a protection zone around the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, one of the hotspots of the Ukrainian war.
The plant has been in danger for months due to the proximity of the fighting between Moscow — which maintains effective control over the facility, although Ukrainian specialists are also working there — and Kiev.
Both countries hold each other responsible for attacks that on more than one occasion have disconnected the plant, the largest in Europe, from the power grid and seriously threatened the operation of its reactors.
«I am very frustrated,» the head of the UN nuclear agency lamented during an appearance Friday at an event held in Washington by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he said he was dismayed by the ignorance shown so far in this regard.
«In my opinion, the establishment of a buffer zone around a nuclear power plant is the most self-evident thing there is,» he told his listeners. «For God’s sake,» he has reiterated in his speech, picked up by CNN, «how can you bomb a nuclear plant?».
