The head of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is again visiting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to assess the security situation at the facility.
The trip comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement on the possible deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which drew heavy criticism from the US, EU, NATO and Ukraine.
Following Putin’s announcement, Ukraine on Sunday called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to consider the potential threat.
“Russia once again confirms its chronic failure to be a responsible guardian of nuclear weapons as a deterrent and a prevention of war, and not as an instrument of threats and intimidation,” the statement said on Sunday. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
The United States said it would “monitor the consequences” of Putin’s announcement. At the same time, National Security Council representative Adrian Watson noted that so far Washington sees “no signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons” in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence update on Sunday that since early March Russia has likely used at least 71 Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Ukraine.
Drone attacks stopped for two weeks in late February, but Russia is likely to receive them again, British intelligence said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross highlighted the problems faced by approximately 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many of whom are elderly or disabled, in Bakhmut and nearby communities.
“They are living in very difficult conditions, spending almost entire days under intense shelling in (underground) shelters,” Umar Khan of the ICRC told a press briefing via video link from the city of Dnipro. “These people (are) at the limit of their existence, their survival and their resilience.”
