Russia must be removed from IAEA for 'nuclear terrorism', urges Ukraine's Energy Ministry

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry has urged that Russia must be removed from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 'nuclear terrorism' as they have occupied two Ukrainian nuclear power plants – in Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Earlier in the day, reports stated that Russian troops fired at a nuclear research facility in the city of Kharkiv.

Russia has been accused of risking nuclear disaster by launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), Europe’s largest, and Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Russian forces had recently destroyed a new laboratory at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to improve management of radioactive waste, the Ukrainian state agency responsible for the Chernobyl exclusion zone had said. Russia had captured the decommissioned plant at the beginning of the war. 

IAEA says closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Sunday said Ukraine's nuclear regulator has informed that Russian forces had seized the city of Slavutych, and that it is closely monitoring the situation in the Ukrainian city where many people work at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The IAEA chief said that he was concerned over the Chornobyl NPP staff's ability to regularly rotate and return to their homes in the nearby city of Slavutych to rest. "There has been no staff rotation at the NPP for nearly a week now," the regulator said.

Ukraine intel: Russia may try to split country

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has said that Russia could try to break Ukraine in two. Kyrylo Budanov said in remarks released by the Defense Ministry on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has realised “he can’t swallow the entire country” and would likely try to split the country under “the Korean scenario.” That's a reference to the decades-old division between North and South Korea.

Budanov said that “the occupiers will try to pull the occupied territories into a single quasi-state structure and pit it against independent Ukraine.” He pointed to Russian attempts to set up parallel government structures in occupied cities and to bar people from using the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia. Budanov predicted that Ukrainian resistance will grow into “total” guerrilla warfare, derailing Russia’s attempts.

Image: AP