Ukraine: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss the safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.

According to Mr. Zelenskiyy, the facility’s safety could not be guaranteed while it was occupied by Russian forces, as part of what he described as Moscow’s “radiation blackmail.”

The President met IAEA Director-General Mr. Rafael Grossi in the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is located in Ukrainian-held territory about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of the nuclear plant.

Mr. Zelenskyy told the IAEA Director-General that staff at the Zaporizhzhia plant were under constant pressure from Russian occupying forces, who he said were failing to uphold safety rules and had interfered in technological processes.

“Without an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and staff from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and adjacent areas, any initiatives on restoring nuclear safety and security are doomed to failure,” Mr. Zelenskyy added.

“Holding a nuclear power station hostage for more than a year. This is surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or worldwide nuclear power,” the Ukrainian President remarked in his video address.

Moscow’s forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, early in the war, and Russian and Ukrainian forces regularly accuse each other of risking a serious nuclear accident by shelling the facility.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s six reactors are currently in shutdown mode, and the facility is receiving the electricity it needs to prevent a reactor meltdown through just one remaining power line.

WORLD ROUNDUP: Honduras ends diplomatic relations with Taiwan