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Kremlin: UN experts’ arrival at nuclear site ‘very positive’ amid Kiev shelling

The file photo shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the city of Enerhodar, Zaporizhia region, Ukraine.

The Kremlin has described as “very positive” the arrival of inspectors from the UN atomic agency at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine amid Kiev’s continued shelling of the sensitive site and the risks of a nuclear catastrophe in Europe.

"In general, we are very positive about the fact that, despite all the difficulties and problems... the commission arrived and started to work," the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Peskov added, however, that it was "too early" to evaluate the UN team's work. “The main thing is that the mission is there.”

A team of inspectors led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s chief Rafael Grossi on Thursday visited Zaporizhzhia — Europe's largest nuclear facility — which has been held by Russian troops since early March. Several members of the IAEA team have remained at the plant since the visit.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said Ukraine was continuing to shell the Zaporizhzhia plant, raising the risks of a nuclear incident. Shoigu accused Ukraine of "nuclear terrorism" and rejected claims by Kiev and the West that Russia had deployed heavy weapons at the plant in southern Ukraine and used the facility as a military base to fire at Ukrainians.

Ukrainian forces and Russian troops have repeatedly blamed each other for the continuous shelling of the plant.

Russia launched the military operation in Ukraine on February 24, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. At the time, President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of the operation was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

In 2014, the twin republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government that had overthrown a democratically-elected pro-Russia administration. Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”

Since the onset of the operation, the United States and its European allies have supplied billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry to Ukraine and imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, despite Russia’s repeated warnings that it will only prolong the war.

Last week, President Joe Biden of the United States announced nearly $3 billion in new military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, counter-drone defenses and radar equipment, bringing the total US military aid under the Biden administration to over $13 billion.

The Biden administration is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday. "There will be announcements of future security assistance in coming days," Kirby said at a news briefing.


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