India calls for mutual restraint after reports of shelling near Ukraine nuclear plant
India at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has expressed concern over the reports of shelling near the nuclear storage facility near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. The Council session was convened at the request of Russia to consider the shelling around the facility.
Reports of unabated shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia have raised alarm among top brass global leaders. On Thursday, at least 10 strikes were recorded in close proximity to the NPP, which UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said could “lead to great disaster.” Meanwhile, the US also condemned the attack, saying that “fighting near the nuclear plant was dangerous and irresponsible.”
India’s Permanent Representative, Ruchira Kamboj while addressing the Security Council on Thursday said, “Any accident involving nuclear facilities could potentially have severe consequences for public health and the environment. India expresses its concern over the reports of shelling near the spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.”
Kamboj said that India is “carefully following” the situation and “attaches high importance to ensuring the safety and security of these facilities.
She added, “We call for mutual restraint so as not to endanger the safety and security of nuclear facilities. We continue to reiterate that the global order should be anchored on international law, the UN Charter, and on respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.”
The Zaporizhzhya plant in south-eastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russia, but Ukrainian technicians continue to work at the nuclear plant. It is the biggest plant in Europe and among the world’s largest, as Moscow and Kiev traded charges over the incidents and the international atomic agency head warned of “serious consequences“.
Briefing the Council, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that the August 5 shelling caused several explosions near the electrical switchboard and resulted in a power shutdown.
Grossi warned, “These military actions near such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences.”
This is the second standoff between Ukraine and Russia involving a nuclear facility. In the first wave of the invasion in February, Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear facility, which had suffered the worst atomic disaster in 1986 while Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union. But Russia withdrew from Chernobyl in March after failing in its attempts to advance on Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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