UN Worries Over Nuclear Safety as Ukraine Plant Faces Increased Threats
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located near an area of increased fighting, and the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned of a potential threat to nuclear safety on Saturday as Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensive.
The International Atomic Energy Agency claimed that its experts stationed at the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, seized by Russia, heard many explosions over the course of the previous week, which could be a sign of heightened military activity in the area. The plant wasn’t harmed in any way.
He said that because of worries about increased military action in the region, the IAEA delegation had been notified that workers at the nuclear power facility had been temporarily cut to the bare minimum.
The facility is one of the ten largest nuclear power plants in the world, and the IAEA has frequently expressed concern that the fighting could result in a potential radioactive release from the site.
Although the six reactors at the plant have been off-line for months, it still need power and skilled personnel to run essential cooling systems and other safety features.
After recently taking the town of Robotyne in the province of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian forces pushed to increase their gains. The U.K. Defense Ministry indicated in its most recent report that Russia has sent reinforcements to halt the Ukrainian advances.
Russian troops have kept up their bombardment of Ukraine. Four persons were hurt in the most recent Russian shelling, according to regional authorities in the northeastern Sumy region, one of them later passed away in a hospital.
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Japan’s Generous Aid to Ukraine
The Kremlin reiterated on Saturday that until the West fully complies with Moscow’s requests on its own agricultural exports, Moscow will not extend a historic agreement allowing Ukraine to ship grain safely over the Black Sea.
The Russian Agricultural Bank might form a subsidiary that would be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system and satisfy other Russian requests, according to rumors that Western countries are purportedly contemplating a deal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the accusations. He stated that Moscow anticipates the West to uphold the initial agreements made in July 2022 to facilitate Russian agricultural exports.
In July, Russia declined to renew the pact, claiming that a separate agreement that promised to ease barriers to its shipments of food and fertilizer had not been kept. Despite shipping record amounts of wheat since last year, it claimed that insurance and shipping regulations were hindering its agricultural trade.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the foreign minister of Japan, arrived in Ukraine on Saturday for an official visit. While there, he visited a church in Bucha, a suburb of Kiev, where some of the worst crimes of Russia’s war took place early in the invasion. Since the commencement of the extensive invasion, Japan has provided Ukraine with assistance totaling more than $7 billion.
Tokyo donated 24 vehicles to help Ukraine clear explosive munitions as part of its assistance, and it provided two transformers to aid Ukraine in restoring its electrical infrastructure after repeated Russian bombings.
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Source: Newsbreak
