He stated that shelling by the Ukrainian military of the territory of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) poses a threat not only to the territory of Ukraine, but to the whole world.

“In this case, not only the physical landscape of Ukraine on the territory and in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant will suffer - we are talking about pollution of the Black Sea, which will then spread to the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles and beyond,” Ritter said in a conversation with RT.

According to him, the consequences of shelling can acquire a regional and even global scale.

“Now the West does not want to criticize Ukraine in any way ... To speak openly about the threat (Zaporozhye NPP. -

RT

), the world needs to understand who created this threat,” Ritter added.

He stressed that this was not done by Russia, but by Ukraine.

“This (the threat of Ukrainian shelling of the ZNPP. -

RT

) can end today if President Biden picks up the phone, calls Zelensky and says:“ If one more missile hits this nuclear power plant, all assistance from the United States stops forever, ”said Ritter.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on June 6 that the organization is working to create conditions for sending a mission of experts to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is under the control of Russian forces.

He noted that he intends to personally lead a mission to the ZNPP to carry out the necessary work on physical nuclear security.

The Ukrainian operator Energoatom opposed Grossi's visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

According to Igor Vishnevetsky, Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia was ready to facilitate the IAEA visit to the Zaporozhye NPP and guaranteed security, but the UN Secretariat did not coordinate this trip.