Balitsky spoke about the refusal of the IAEA to assess the shelling of the NPP by Kiev

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is an "empty man", refusing to assess the shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear Power Plant The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was announced on June 19 by the Governor of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, in the Izvestia studio at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025).

"They don't want to evaluate anything, they don't want to admit the most important thing — the source of the threat to the nuclear power plant, to the world. They do not want to admit who is shelling the nuclear power plant and emphasize that this is "as a result of the conflict." Is this a fungus that appeared from dampness as a result of the conflict?"— Balitsky was indignant.

He stressed that the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant is being destroyed due to shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to Balitsky, it is wrong to call such actions "the result of a conflict."

"As for the nuclear power plant and its six reactors, they are now shut down. In a small mode, they work for themselves to ensure preventive maintenance. This is regulated by Rosatom. The station cannot be launched yet," the governor said.

He also noted that a nuclear power plant is expected to be launched in the Zaporizhia region, including because it employs about 11.5 thousand employees. In addition, neighboring regions also expect to start receiving electricity from the station again.

Nuclear rotation: why the AFU disrupted the change of IAEA experts at Zaporizhzhya NPP

Vehicles in a convoy with representatives of an international organization were damaged due to Ukrainian attacks

On June 9, Grossi, in a speech to the members of the Board of Governors, said that in the current conditions, restarting the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was impractical. According to him, the nuclear safety situation at the power plant remains unstable, therefore, in the context of the conflict in Ukraine, it is not worth restarting the nuclear power plant.