The Russian Defence Ministry has again blamed Ukraine for the failed rotation of international observers at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
The ministry released videos on Thursday allegedly showing Ukrainian soldiers shelling a convoy of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alongside a list of events with time stamps.
The information could not be independently verified.
IAEA director Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that the planned rotation had been cancelled due to intense military activity in the region.
“It is completely unacceptable that the safety of our staff is jeopardized in this way,” Grossi said. He added that he is in close contact with both sides.
The Zaporizhzhya plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe, has been occupied by Russian troops since March 2022. IAEA observers at the plant are regularly rotated and normally travel across the Russian-Ukrainian front line into the area controlled by Kiev.
Moscow and Kiev regularly accuse each other of shelling the plant.
Both sides accused each other of preventing the rotation on Wednesday. Ukraine said Russia had deliberately delayed the approval of the location and timing of the crossing of the front line for the nuclear observers.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Heorhii Tykhyi, said the Kremlin’s aim was to force the IAEA staff to travel from Russia to the nuclear facility in south-eastern Ukraine.
