Russia asks IAEA to ensure Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant security

MOSCOW, June 23 (Arab News): Russia urged the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday to ensure Ukraine does not shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying it was otherwise operating safely.
Alexei Likhachev, chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom, made the comments at a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, Rosatom said in a statement, after Grossi visited the plant last week.
“We expect concrete steps from the IAEA aimed at preventing strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, both on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and on adjacent territory and critical infrastructure facilities,” Rosatom quoted its chief as saying in a statement.
The IAEA said this week that the power plant was “grappling with ... water-related challenges” after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam emptied the vast reservoir on whose southern bank the plant sits.
It also said the military situation in the area had become increasingly tense as Kyiv began a counteroffensive agaMOSCOW: Russia urged the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday to ensure Ukraine does not shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying it was otherwise operating safely.
Alexei Likhachev, chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom, made the comments at a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, Rosatom said in a statement, after Grossi visited the plant last week.
An Al Jazeera report adds: At least two people have died in Russian shelling in Kherson, according to the Ukrainian governor in the partly occupied region.
Ukraine says its air defences downed 13 Russian cruise missiles headed towards a military airfield in the western Khmelnytskyi region.
In response to the 11th package of European Union sanctions, Russia's foreign ministry says it is expanding the list of people banned from visiting in response and would respond "appropriately" in due course.
The ministry said in a statement that the list included security officials, civil servants, business people and members of the European Parliament.
On Friday, the EU formally adopted its new package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.