UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) The United Nations is calling on all interested parties to avoid any steps that could increase tensions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), the organization's spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday.
"We ourselves want to make sure that all parties are aware of the need to avoid any actions that could heighten tensions around the nuclear power plant," Haq told reports when asked to comment on the recent call by Russia to the UN to apply pressure on Kiev to refrain from engaging in provocations at the ZNPP.
Haq also noted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is playing a key role in securing the situation at the ZNPP.
"They are continuing to work out to make sure that conditions at the plant are safe and secure," he said,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier in the day that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is well aware of who is responsible for the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Lavrov also denied statements made in Kiev that Russia plans to blow up the ZNPP.
Grossi, in his turn, said on Friday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive creates an "additional layer of concern" about the safety of the ZNPP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has earlier accused Russia, citing a report of Ukraine's intelligence and security services, of preparing to blow up the ZNPP because it was not interested in Ukraine's security. Russia has rejected these allegations, saying that the IAEA mission headed by Grossi, who visited the plant in June, could be convinced that these statements were nonsense.�
