US Condemns Russia for turning site into ‘active war zone’
Cluster Bombs from TOS-2 MLRS launcher. Image Credit: Russian Armed Forces.
The US has condemned any Russian bid to divert energy from Ukraine where authorities said the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was cut off from its national grid.
State department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters:
The electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine and any attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and redirect to occupied areas is unacceptable.
No country should turn a nuclear power plant into an active war zone and we oppose any Russian efforts to weaponise or divert energy from the plant.”
Ukraine earlier said that Zaporizhzhia - the largest nuclear facility in Europe - for the first time was severed form its national grid after fighting around the complex.
President Joe Biden, in a telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for Russia to return full control of the plant and let in UN nuclear inspectors, the White House said.
Bonnie Jenkins, the under secretary of state for arms control, said Moscow bore responsibility for the plant’s safety.
“Their actions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have created a serious risk of a nuclear incident - a dangerous radiation release - that could threaten not only the people and environment of Ukraine but also affect neighbouring countries and the entire international community,” Jenkins told reporters.
“The risk of radiation release could be all but eliminated if Russia returns control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant back to Ukraine and fully withdraws from Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” she said.
(credit: Theguardian)
