‘We proved that Iran lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency with thousands of documents we obtained from Iran's archives,’ says Yossi Cohen
"Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation," Guterres said.
#Russia #Blocks #Adoption #Nuclear #Disarmament #Text
https://www.globalcourant.com/russia-blocks-adoption-at-un-of-nuclear-disarmament-text/?feed_id=16462&_unique_id=6309d9be1518b
#Ukraine #Nuclear #Plant #Online #Inspection #Prepared
https://www.globalcourant.com/ukraine-nuclear-plant-back-online-as-inspection-prepared/?feed_id=16308&_unique_id=630958b1dc7e5
UN chief Antonio Guterres at Security Council on Ukraine:
- Six-month anniversary of start of Ukraine war a sad and tragic milestone
- Ukraine grain initiative working well
- Thank Türkiye for mediating grain deal, I was moved when I saw grain loaded ships in Istanbul pic.twitter.com/jQTyHM9HjE— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 24, 2022
Celebrations are banned in Ukraine but people abroad come together to mark its independence anniversary pic.twitter.com/LhSbbtt2Ml
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 24, 2022
#Russia #IAEA #discuss #Ukraine #nuclear #plant #Istanbul #meeting
https://www.globalcourant.com/russia-iaea-discuss-ukraine-nuclear-plant-in-istanbul-meeting/?feed_id=15328&_unique_id=6306700b9c883
Source
https://www.globalcourant.com/russia-ukraine-spar-at-un-over-nuclear-plant-dangers/?feed_id=15048&_unique_id=6305c400a5341
‘Humanity’s future is in our hands,’ says Antonio Guterres
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that a team of independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant via Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.
The apparent resolution of a dispute over whether inspectors travel to the plant via Ukraine or Russia came as a senior U.S. defense official said Ukraine's forces had brought the Russian advance to a halt.
"You are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield," the official said, speaking to reporters on grounds of anonymity.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron's office, Putin had "reconsidered the demand" that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a "catastrophe."
It specified that Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.
Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged Moscow's forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia plant in south Ukraine not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies to millions of Ukrainians.
A flare-up in fighting around the Russian-controlled nuclear power station — with both sides blaming each other for attacks — has raised the specter of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl.
The Kremlin said in a statement earlier that Putin and Macron agreed that officials from the UN's nuclear watchdog should carry out inspections "as soon as possible" to "assess the real situation on the ground."
Putin also "stressed that the systematic shelling by the Ukrainian military of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe," the Kremlin added.
The warning came just a day after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Guterres, meeting in the east Ukrainian city of Lviv, sounded the alarm over the intensified fighting, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United Nations to secure the site.
The Turkish leader said: "We are worried. We do not want another Chernobyl," referring to the 1986 nuclear disaster, while Guterres cautioned that any damage to the plant would be akin to "suicide."
During his visit to the southern port of Odessa on Friday, the UN secretary general said: "Obviously, the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity. This principle must be fully respected."
"Naturally, its energy must be used by the Ukrainian people," he told AFP in separate comments.
His remarks came after Ukrainian energy operator Energoatom alleged that Russian troops were planning to "shut off the reactors" at Zaporizhzhia, which is capable of supplying 4 million homes.
On Thursday, Moscow said Kyiv was preparing a "provocation" at the site that would see Russia "accused of creating a man-made disaster at the plant."
Kyiv, however, insisted that Moscow was planning the provocation, and said Russia's occupying forces had ordered most staff to stay home Friday and drawn down officials from Russia's own state nuclear agency.
The UN chief was visiting Odesa as part of an appeal to make Ukrainian grain available to poor countries struggling with soaring food prices, after a landmark deal with Russia last month to allow its export.
Earlier, Guterres met Erdogan — who helped broker the grain deal inked in Istanbul — and Zelensky, saying the United Nations hoped to scale up work under the deal ahead of the winter.
The deal, the only significant agreement between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February, has so far seen 25 boats carrying some 600,000 tons of agricultural products depart from three designated ports, Kyiv has said.
But during the call with Macron — their first in nearly three months — Putin told the French leader that Russia was facing obstacles in the export of its food products and fertilizer.
"There are still obstacles to... Russian exports that do not contribute to the solution of problems related to ensuring global food security," the Kremlin said.
Guterres is expected to head to Turkey after Odessa to visit the Joint Coordination Center, the body tasked with overseeing the accord.
The agreement between Kyiv and Moscow to clear exit corridors from three Ukrainian ports, including Odessa, has brought some relief to concerns of global food shortages with the warring countries among the world's leading producers.
The deal has held, but brought little respite along the sprawling front lines in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have edged slowly forward after nearly six months of fighting.
The primary tool of Moscow's forces has been artillery barrages, and recent bombardments over the eastern Donetsk region — which has been partially controlled by Russian proxies since 2014 — left several dead.
The Ukrainian head of the region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on social media Friday that Russian strikes had killed five people and wounded 10 more in three settlements.
Strikes early Friday in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, left one person dead and damaged a school and a private business, the head of the region said. Russian strikes around Kharkiv have killed more than a dozen people over the last two days.
Türkiye supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, stressing that his country is working to find diplomatic solutions to the deadly conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
Erdogan, who held a trilateral summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UN chief Antonio Guterres in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Thursday, also expressed concerns over fighting near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Kiev and Moscow have traded accusations over a series of strikes this month on or near Europe's largest nuclear power plant that is currently under Russian control.
"We do not want to experience a new Chernobyl," Erdogan told the press after the summit.
Erdogan called on the international community to take more responsibility in finding political solution to the fighting in Ukraine.
"While continuing our efforts to find a solution, we remain on the side of our Ukraine friends," Erdogan said.
He also said the exchange of prisoners too was discussed at the Lviv talks. "Türkiye attaches great importance to this issue," he added.
READ MORE: Erdogan, Zelenskyy, Guterres hold trilateral summit in Ukraine
Türkiye's President Erdogan:
- War will eventually end at negotiating table
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 18, 2022
- Türkiye temporarily hosting nearly 325,000 Ukrainians
- Exchange of prisoners of war discussed pic.twitter.com/VV8AQDOqkZ
Landmark grain deal
Erdogan also spoke on the resumption of Ukrainian grain export under a Türkiye-brokered deal.
"Not only Ukraine, but the whole world has begun feeling positive effects of historic Istanbul deal to resume Ukrainian grain exports," he said.
Since August 1 — when the first grain ship left Ukraine — some 625,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain have been delivered to world markets through 25 ships, Erdogan added.
Ankara has coordinated with Moscow and Kiev to open a sea corridor from Ukraine for the grain exports, drawing international praise for its mediator role in a breakthrough that is expected to ease global food shortages.
Türkiye, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed the landmark agreement on July 22 to resume the exports from three Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
"During our trilateral meeting, we also evaluated the possibilities of transforming the positive atmosphere created by the Istanbul agreement into permanent peace," Erdogan said in Lviv.
UN chief Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to show a "spirit of compromise" and ensure the continued success of the grain deal.
"From day one, the parties have worked professionally and in good faith to keep the food flowing. I appeal for this to continue and for them to overcome all obstacles in a spirit of compromise and permanently settle all difficulties," he said.
Guterres sought the demilitarisation of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, asking Russia to withdraw military equipment and personnel from the plant while calling for efforts to ensure it did not become the target of military operations.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy sought urgent action to ensure the security of the sensitive area in a separate meeting with Guterres.
And later, the Ukrainian president reiterated that Russia must immediately withdraw its troops from Zaporizhzhia nuclear and end what he described as "provocations".
READ MORE: Why is Erdogan’s visit to Ukraine so significant?
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
A "catastrophe" at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine would threaten the whole of Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Monday.
"Under the cover of the plant, the occupiers are shelling nearby cities and communities," Zelensky said in his evening address.
"Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed of the wind," he said.
"If Russia's actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far."
Zelensky called on the international community to adopt "new tough sanctions against Russia" and not to yield to "nuclear blackmail".
"All Russian troops must be immediately withdrawn from the plant and neighbouring areas without any conditions," he said.
The plant, Europe's biggest nuclear facility, was captured by Russian troops at the beginning of March, not long after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Since the end of July, Zaporizhzhia has been the target of a number of military strikes, with both Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of being behind the shelling.
The fighting at the plant was the subject of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council last Thursday.
Ukraine has accused Russia of using the plant as a base for possible attacks and for storing weapons.
Russian forces in the occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the flow of ammunition, armor and fuel to front-line units, according to Ukrainian officials and Western analysts, thanks to a concerted Ukrainian campaign to cut off river and rail supply lines as well as target ammunition depots.
The Russians are moving command posts from the north of the Dnipro River to the south bank as bridges have been heavily damaged, Ukrainian officials say.
The first deputy head of Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, claimed on his Telegram channel that a significant portion of the Russian military command had already left Kherson city. Ukrainian forces are about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the city, towards Mykolaiv.
Much of Kherson region has been occupied since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As part of Kyiv's counteroffensive to try to retake lost territory in the south, Ukrainian forces are targeting critical bridges to disrupt supply routes in and around Kherson.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said Sunday that the Russians may be leaving for the other side of the river "to avoid being trapped in Kherson city if Ukrainian strikes cut off all ground lines of communication connecting the right bank of the Dnipro River to the Russian rear."
Videos have appeared on social media in the past few days showing renewed long-range artillery attacks on the Antonivskyi bridge and a road bridge over the dam near Nova Kakhovka, rendering them impassable for heavily armored vehicles. In some areas, the river is up to 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) wide, making pontoon bridges impractical.
The Ukrainians have also targeted several railway lines from the Russian-occupied Crimea Peninsula into the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. On Tuesday, a series of fierce explosions rocked the town of Dzankhoy on the main line towards Kherson. Recent video showed a substantial stock of military vehicles and ammunition at the site.
Two railway lines from Crimea were struck in the last 10 days. Last week, local residents reported several hours of explosions in the Henichesk district, a port area along the Sea of Azov, and the railway further west at Brylivka was also struck.
"Within the last week we have destroyed over 10 ammunition warehouses and military equipment clusters. These hits do not allow for the heavy equipment to be transferred by these bridges," said the Ukrainian military's Operational Command South.
None of this suggests an imminent Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
Olga Voitovych, Yulia Kesaieva and Mariya Knight contributed reporting.
Read the full report here.
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Ukraine nuclear plant risks increasing 'every day'
The risk of disaster at Europe's largest nuclear plant is "increasing every day", the mayor of the city where it is located has warned, after Ukraine and Russia exchanged blame for fresh shelling around the facility.
The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces since March, and Kiev has accused Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing arms there. The facility has come under fire repeatedly in the past week, raising the spectre of a nuclear catastrophe.
"What is happening there is outright nuclear terrorism, and it can end unpredictably at any moment," said Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of Energodar city where the plant is based. "The risks are increasing every day," he added, noting that there was mortar shelling on the plant "every day and night".
Ship carrying grain for hungry Ethiopia leaves Ukraine
A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain destined for Ethiopia has set sail from a Black Sea port, the first shipment of its kind in a programme to assist countries facing famine.
The Liberia-flagged Brave Commander departed from the Ukrainian port of Yuzhne, east of Odessa, according to regional governor Maksym Marchenko. It plans to sail to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and transferred to Ethiopia under the World Food Programme initiative.
Ukraine and Russia reached a deal with Türkiye on July 22 to re-start Black Sea grain deliveries, addressing the major export disruption that has occurred since Russia began its Ukraine operation in February.
First ship carrying Ukraine wheat under grain deal docks in Türkiye
The first ship carrying Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a Türkiye-brokered deal has arrived in Istanbul, the Joint Coordination Centre based in the Turkish city said.
The Belize-flagged vessel is the first to carry wheat from Ukraine through the Black Sea since Russia's offensive began. The Sormovsky was loaded with 3,050 mt of wheat and had left Ukraine's port of Chornomorsk on Friday.
A total of 18 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war.
Brave Commander, first UN-chartered Ukrainian grain ship, is being loaded at Yuzhny port in southern Ukraine to make her way to Ethiopia. Our correspondent Melinda Nucifora has more pic.twitter.com/z0BbbnNZD9
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 14, 2022
Mykolaiv hit by deadly rocket attack
Russian forces have fired rockets on the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, killing at least one person, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Mykolaiv region is just to the north of the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces have vowed to retake. The Ukrainian emergency service said one person was killed in shelling early Sunday of the Mykolaiv region settlement of Bereznehuvate.
Russia’s war priority: Reorient units to strengthen southern Ukraine, UK says
Russia's priority over the past week has likely been to reorient units to strengthen its campaign southern Ukraine, British military intelligence said.
Russian-backed forces of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic in the Donbas continued to attempt assaults to the north of Donetsk city, according to the intelligence update.
Particularly heavy fighting has focused on the village of Pisky, near the site of Donetsk Airport, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.
Zelenskyy says 'brutal fighting is continuing in Donbass'
Russia has deployed a colossal amount of its military resources in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, adding, "brutal fighting is continuing in Donbass."
"The hottest points of the front in this direction remain unchanged: Avdiivka, Marinka, Pisky, Bakhmut and the corresponding direction," he said, adding, "All our male and female defenders there are simply heroes."
In Kharkiv region, he claimed the Ukrainian defence is strong "and the attempts of the occupiers to attack are constantly failing."
Zelenskyy claimed fighting in the south of the country is causing destruction of Russian army forces and their means. "No day is wasted, we are reducing the occupiers' potential."
For live updates from Saturday (August 13), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Kiev and Moscow have exchanged blame for fresh shelling around Europe's largest nuclear facility, with the strikes raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.
The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces since March and has come under fire repeatedly in the past week. It dominates the south bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro river.
During his televised address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of nuclear "blackmail" and using the plant to "intimidate people in an extremely cynical way".
"They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more," Zelenskyy said.
Backed by Western allies, Ukraine has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces. Kiev accuses Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing arms there.
In his address, Zelenskyy added that Russian forces were "hiding" behind the plant to stage bombings on the Ukrainian-controlled towns of Nikopol and Marganets.
"Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army," Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom warned residents in the city of Energodar, where the plant is located, to stay off the streets as much as possible to avoid Russian shelling.
"According to residents, there is new shelling in the direction of the nuclear plant...the time between the start and arrival of the shelling is 3-5 seconds," Energoatom said on Saturday in a message shared on Telegram from a local chief in Energodar city, which remains loyal to Kiev.
READ MORE: Ukraine 'targeting' Russians shooting at, or from nuclear plant
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwUG_hYrV4[/embed]
Russia-backed officials blame Ukraine
But pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia blamed the shelling on Ukrainian forces.
"Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are again under fire by Zelenskyy's militants," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration.
The missiles fell "in the areas located on the banks of the Dnipro river and in the plant", he said, without reporting any casualties or damage. The river divides the areas occupied by Russia and those under Ukraine's control.
Ukraine said the first strikes on August 5 hit a high-voltage power cable and forced one of the reactors to stop working. Then strikes on Thursday damaged a pumping station and radiation sensors.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of "hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers the south of Ukraine is generated".
"The goal is to disconnect us from the (plant) and blame the Ukrainian army for this," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
The UN Security Council has held an emergency over the situation and warned of a "grave" crisis unfolding in Zaporizhzhia.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.
Kiev has said for weeks it is planning a counteroffensive to recapture Zaporizhzhia and neighbouring Kherson provinces, the largest part of the territory Russia seized after its February 24 offensive.
Russian and Ukrainian forces earlier fought for control of Chernobyl, the still-radioactive site of the world's worst nuclear accident, also raising fears of a disaster.
READ MORE: US says Russia set to hold 'sham' referendums in Ukraine regions
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
The "alarming" situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine had reached a "grave hour," the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday, as he called for an immediate inspection of the facility by international experts.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned that parts of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant had been knocked out due to recent attacks, risking an "unacceptable" potential radiation leak.
"IAEA experts believe that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety," but "that could change at any moment," Grossi said.
"Any military action jeopardizing nuclear safety, nuclear security, must stop immediately," he added. "These military actions near to such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences."
Ukraine and Russia blame each other: The Zaporizhzhia facility — the largest nuclear plant in Europe — occupies an extensive site on the Dnipro river near the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar. It has continued operating at reduced capacity since Russian forces captured it early in March, with Ukrainian technicians remaining at work.
Russia and Ukraine have so far been unwilling to agree to an IAEA inspection of the plant and have accused each other of shelling the facility — action the IAEA has said breaches "indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars."
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Thursday blamed Ukraine for the shelling and urged Kyiv's supporters to stop attacks and prevent a disastrous radiation leak.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed the finger at Moscow, which he said was putting all of Europe in danger.
"Only the complete withdrawal of Russians from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the restoration of Ukraine's full control over the situation around the plant will guarantee the restoration of nuclear safety for all of Europe," Zelensky said.
More shelling: Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said 10 shells landed near the complex on Thursday, preventing a shift handover.
"For the safety of nuclear workers, the buses with the personnel of the next shift were turned back to Enerhodar," the agency said. "Until the situation finally normalizes, the workers of the previous shift will continue to work."
Energoatom said radiation levels at the site remained normal, despite renewed attacks.
Read the full story here.
Fast News
Friday, August 12, 2022
IAEA head seeks to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said he is seeking to visit Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid fresh shelling of its compound.
Rafael Grossi told the UN Security Council that there was no immediate threat to the safety of the nuclear site based on a preliminary assessment but warned that this could change at any moment.
Europe's largest nuclear site has been shelled several times, raising concerns about a nuclear disaster.
Grossi said he was ready to lead a team of experts to assess the physical damage to the facility. ''The IAEA must be allowed to conduct its mission as soon as possible."
Ukraine seeks control of nuclear plant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded Russia return Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to Ukraine's control.
"Only a full withdrawal of the Russians ... and the restoration of full Ukrainian control of the situation around the station can guarantee a resumption of nuclear security for all of Europe," he said in a video address.
France echoed Zelenskiyy's demand and said Russia's occupation of the site endangered the world.
"The presence and actions of the Russian armed forces near the plant significantly increase the risk of an accident with potentially devastating consequences," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
For live updates from Thursday (August 11), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Fast News
US federal agents were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons when they searched former president Donald Trump's home in Florida this week, the Washington Post has reported.
It was not clear if such documents were recovered, the Post reported on Thursday.
This is a developing story and will be updated soon ...
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
