A year ago, on September 1, 2022, in response to an official request from Ukraine, the IAEA permanent monitoring mission began its work at the temporarily occupied ZNPP. The mission was launched by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who visited ZNPP at that time.

The IAEA permanent mission to ZNPP was the first of the Agency's expert missions to Ukrainian NPPs. Subsequently, Ukraine turned to the IAEA with a proposal to expand the missions to all Ukrainian NPPs, as the shelling had created a threatening situation for the functioning of the Ukrainian nuclear power generation. In particular, in November, after a large-scale shelling, all Ukrainian NPPs were simultaneously de-energized and switched to emergency power supply by diesel generators. In January 2023, members of the mission arrived at the sites of the Pivdennoukrayinsk, Rivne, Khmelnytsky and Chornobyl NPPs to carry out continuous control and monitoring of nuclear and radiation safety.

"The work of the IAEA mission is important for Ukraine to obtain information about the objective picture at the occupied ZNPP and to record the crimes of the russians. Unfortunately, these efforts are not yet enough to ensure global nuclear safety, because we are dealing with an insidious and unpredictable enemy. The explosion of the Kakhovka HPP dam by russian terrorists proves that they will stop at nothing, and their actions threaten the entire continent," said Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko.

According to Oleh Korikov, acting head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, IAEA experts at ZNPP witnessed the continued militarization of ZNPP by the russian military.

"They record violations of the operating conditions of power units, destruction of physical barriers to the spread of radiation, loss of power to ZNPP, blocking of data transmission through the automated radiation monitoring system," Oleh Korikov added.

It is important that after visiting ZNPP, the IAEA experts stated that russian terrorists violated the basic 7 principles of nuclear and radiation safety.

"This requires us to initiate additional mechanisms to return ZNPP under Ukrainian control," noted German Galushchenko.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula proposes appropriate mechanisms to counteract the aggressor in terms of nuclear and radiation safety. A working group consisting of diplomatic missions chaired by Energy Minister German Galushchenko is working on discussing its implementation.

Ukraine's proposals include the need to create and maintain an environment in which nuclear facilities remain protected from any potential use as tools of war, as well as the demilitarization and de-occupation of ZNPP, the return of the plant to full control of Ukraine and the restoration of its safe operation.