UN atomic energy chief warns Europe’s largest nuclear power plant ‘can’t be protected’ and the situation is ‘precarious’

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia can no longer “be protected.”

IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi warned safety across Europe can’t be guaranteed as fighting is intensifying close to the nuclear facility and there is an “increasing level of danger.”

Grossi has now visited Zaporizhzhia twice since the war started in Ukraine and he and his team have assessed “first-hand the serious nuclear safety and security situation at the facility.”

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Grossi said the situation at the nuclear power plant is “still precarious” and added, “It is obvious that military activity is increasing in this whole region. So the plant can’t be protected.”

Grossi said, “It is obvious that military activity is increasing in this whole region, so every possible measure and precautions should be taken so that the plant is not attacked.

“I think it’s no secret that there is a significant increase in the number of troops in the region, and there is open talk about offensive and counter-offensives.”

Earlier this week the IAEA chief told Associated Press, “There is an increased level of combat, active combat.

“My teams there report daily about the attacks, the sound of heavy weaponry. This is practically constant.”

He added, “I see an increased level of danger. I think the principle here is to avoid an accident, and the possibility of having it is increasing. This is a matter of fact.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia are holding the nuclear power plant “hostage” and Europe’s safety can no longer be guaranteed.

The Ukrainian President said, “Holding a nuclear power station hostage for more than a year – this is surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or world-wide nuclear power.”