Russians call mining of the territory of the seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "acceptable practice"

Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (Svidomi) — The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the International Organisations in Vienna has responded to the IAEA's report on mining the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

The Russians claim that they have installed mines in a "closed buffer zone" and that the fence is needed to "protect against potential Ukrainian saboteurs".

"Laying mines to protect the perimeter of a nuclear power plant is an acceptable practice that does not contradict any IAEA recommendations."

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the largest in Europe. In March 2022, the Russian military seized the plant in the south of Ukraine. Ukrainian employees were interrogated and tortured. 

A monitoring mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency is currently at the plant. In September 2023, the IAEA approved a resolution to immediately return the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to complete control of Ukraine. 

In October 2023, the head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda that the "crisis moment" of the possibility of ZNPP being blown up had passed, but the situation remained threatening.

On January 19, the IAEA said that the Russians had mined the perimeter of ZNPP again, and the plant lost direct backup power supply to the reactor units for several hours.