Ukraine Proposes Demilitarized Zone Around Zaporizhzhia NPP, Russian Response Awaited

Ukraine has put forward a proposal to set up a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to prevent Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster.

Russia seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in March, days after it invaded Ukraine. The plant is still run by its Ukrainian technicians. Ukraine’s Energoatom said the area was struck five times on August 11, including near the site where radioactive materials are stored.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has called for all military activity by Russia and Ukraine around the ZNPP to end. He urged the withdrawal of military personnel and equipment and for no more forces or equipment to be deployed.

“The facility must not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarisation to ensure the safety of the area,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement.

A State Department spokesperson said the United States also supports calls for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia plant. He noted that the fighting near a nuclear plant is “dangerous and irresponsible.”

“We continue to call on Russia to cease all military operations at or near Ukrainian nuclear facilities and return full control (of the ZNPP) to Ukraine,” the spokesman added.

Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear power operator, told the BBC earlier this week that about 500 Russian soldiers were at the site, using it as a nuclear shield.

The American official added that the Ukrainians cannot and will not return fire in order to prevent a horrific disaster at the nuclear facility.

Ministers from the G7, an organisation of some of the world's wealthiest nations have also asked Moscow to immediately hand back control of the ZNPP to Kyiv. Their warning echoed statements from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN’s nuclear watchdog, called for an end to "all military activities that endanger nuclear security".