G7 Leaders Urge Russia to Ensure Safety of Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine
Ukrainian staff operating the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant must be able to carry out their duties without threats or pressure.
The G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, reiterated their condemnation of the ongoing unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
In a statement released on August 10, the G7 leaders asked the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its troops from within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and respect Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty.
In that context, the leaders demand that Russia immediately hand back full control to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine, of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant as well as of all nuclear facilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders to ensure their safe and secure operations.
Ukrainian staff operating the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant must be able to carry out their duties without threats or pressure. It is Russia’s continued control of the plant that endangers the region.
“We remain profoundly concerned by the serious threat that the seizure of Ukrainian nuclear facilities and other actions by Russian armed forces pose to the safety and security of these facilities, significantly raising the risk of a nuclear accident or incident and endangering the population of Ukraine, neighboring states, and the international community. It also undermines the IAEA’s ability to monitor Ukraine’s peaceful nuclear activities for safeguarding purposes,” the G7 leaders said in the statement.
The leaders support IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi’s efforts to strengthen nuclear safety and security in Ukraine. Against this background, the G7 leaders underlined the importance of facilitating a mission of IAEA experts to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to address nuclear safety, security, and safeguard concerns, in a manner that respects full Ukrainian sovereignty over its territory and infrastructure.
They endorsed the importance of the Seven Pillars of Nuclear Safety and Security as outlined by Director General Grossi and encouraged all countries to support the IAEA’s efforts.
