Zelensky, IAEA chief discuss nuclear safety

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. He thanked the IAEA for its missions at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and agreed to strengthen their work, including at other key energy facilities.

The meeting included a detailed discussion on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Zelensky emphasized the importance of restoring Ukrainian control over the plant and invited international partners to collaborate in the energy sector.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his team spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser and his top envoy on the war in Ukraine this week, and that they were working to arrange a visit by a U.S. delegation.

Kyiv has been trying to establish close relations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump who has said he wanted to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old all-out war with Russia.

Meanwhile Rafael Grossi said: "Because we have been looking at the situation at one of the most important substations, Kyivska, 100 something kilometres from the capital, which is very important. The reason this is very important is because for nuclear power plants to operate well and not have an accident, they need to get the sufficient outside power supply. And when a substation is impeded from doing that, it's a problem from a nuclear safety perspective."

He noted that the project would be particularly interesting as there are few previous examples of resuming construction on suspended NPP units. Grossi acknowledged Ukraine’s significant efforts and investments in completing the units, with construction progress at 80% for unit 3 and 25% for unit 4. He also mentioned Ukraine’s intention to utilise reactor equipment initially intended for Bulgaria’s Belene site. “I reiterate: we have started drafting what we call the technical specifications, meaning what we will focus on in our evaluations,” Grossi said.