Situation around Zaporizhia: "A nuclear power plant in the middle of a battlefield"

The threatening situation in the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine occupied the United Nations Security Council in New York on Thursday.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, reported that Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which has been shot at several times, does not currently pose a safety risk.

"However, this can change at any time." At the emergency meeting, Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebensia rejected the call for the troops to be withdrawn.

However, he promised Russian support for an international commission of experts to visit the nuclear power plant.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the plant and accused Moscow of "nuclear blackmail".

"No one else has so obviously used a nuclear power plant to threaten the whole world and impose conditions," Zelenskyy said in his evening video address.

When can international experts go to Zaporizhia?

Air alerts were raised twice across Ukraine on Thursday evening.

The Ukrainian general staff reported fierce fighting in the east of the country, where Russian troops are trying to advance in Donbass.

For Ukraine, Friday marks the 170th day of the fight against the Russian invasion.

Only a few hours before the session of the most powerful UN body requested by Russia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant came under fire again.

According to the occupation authorities, shots were fired from places under Ukrainian control.

The Ukrainian company Enerhoatom reported ten impacts in the vicinity.

The information could not be verified.

Earlier, Ukraine had accused Russia of targeting the nuclear power plant.

Before the Security Council, Grossi called on Moscow and Kyiv to quickly allow international experts to visit.

"Personally, I am ready to lead such a mission." Without the physical presence of representatives of the IAEA, important facts could not be gathered.

The United States was also pushing for an expert trip: "This visit can't wait any longer," said Undersecretary for Arms Control Bonnie Jenkins.

Nebensja agreed to cooperate.

However, he questioned Kiev's willingness to allow such a mission.

The ambassador also rejected calls for the power plant to be demilitarized, as had been raised by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, among others.

That makes the nuclear power plant susceptible to provocations and acts of terrorism, said Nebensja.

There are also security concerns before a possible expert trip.

"We are talking about a nuclear power plant in the middle of a battlefield," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Zelenskyj demanded that the world should work to ensure that Russian troops leave the nuclear power plant.

Only when Ukraine regains control of Zaporizhia will there be nuclear safety for the whole of Europe.

The plant on the river Dnipro has six 1000-megawatt reactors of Soviet design VVER.

Heavy artillery fire over the Donbass

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops in Donbass continued to try to advance under cover of heavy artillery fire.

Fighter planes were also used.

The attacks were directed primarily against the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

However, Ukrainian troops repelled the attacks, the situation report said.

The military information was not directly verifiable.

Air raid alarms were raised twice across Ukraine on Thursday evening, with no reports of Russian bombs hitting the area.

In his speech, President Selenskyj called on all officials to maintain secrecy.

You should refrain from commenting on the military situation so as not to jeopardize operations.

He thanked for the €1.5 billion in military aid pledged at a conference of supporter countries in Copenhagen.

The money is to go towards weapons and the training of Ukrainian soldiers.

The heads of the Moscow security apparatus discussed further rapprochement with the pro-Russian separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

The meeting on behalf of President Vladimir Putin took place in Luhansk, as announced by Deputy Secretary of the Security Council and former President Dmitry Medvedev.

Among the participants from Moscow were Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the head of the secret service Alexander Bortnikov and the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Sergei Kiriyenko.

Medvedev wrote that discussions had been held on aligning the laws of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk with Russian legislation.

It was also about the reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure.

Former Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has been placed under house arrest until October 9 for her criticism of the war against Ukraine.

That was decided by a court in Moscow on Thursday.

The arrest is part of a criminal case in which Ovzyannikova, 44, is charged with allegedly spreading false information about the Russian armed forces.

According to the Interfax agency, she faces between five and ten years in prison.

Ovsyannikova was arrested on Wednesday.

The journalist on Russian state television, who had previously been considered loyal to the line, held an anti-war poster into the camera during a live news broadcast in mid-March.

In mid-July, within sight of the Kremlin, they again protested against the war.