Russia, Ukraine 'ready to work' with UN nuclear watchdog

APD NEWS

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Moscow and Kyiv are "ready to work" with the United Nations (UN) atomic watchdog to ensure nuclear safety in Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday.

The IAEA has expressed concern about nuclear safety and security after Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest power plant in Ukraine, as well as Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident. The UN agency said Ukraine had informed the IAEA that it had lost all contact with the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Seeking to address this, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi met Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in separate meetings in Antalya in Turkey.

"We had good meetings, not easy ones, but serious meetings," he told reporters after returning to Vienna, where the IAEA is based. "Both sides agree that something needs to be done. They are both ready to work and to engage with the IAEA."

Grossi also said he would try to "have something more concrete" in the next few days.

Ukraine has four active nuclear power plants, providing about half the country's electricity, as well as stores of nuclear waste such as the one at Chernobyl.

(CGTN)