UN’s nuclear chief warns ‘we are living on borrowed time’ after two explosions near Zaporizhzhia

A UN nuclear chief has warned ‘we are living on borrowed time’ after two landmine explosions near Europe’s largest atomic power station in Ukraine.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant.

Russian forces took control of the six-reactor nuclear plant – Europe’s largest – in war-torn southern Ukraine in March last year – something Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has described as ‘radiation blackmail’.

‘We are living on borrowed time when it comes to nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,’ Mr Grossi said yesterday.

‘Unless we take action to protect the plant, our luck will sooner or later run out, with potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment,’ he added.

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi (pictured at Zaporizhzhia plant) has warned that ‘we are living on borrowed time’ after two landmine explosions near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly expressed fears over the safety of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant (file photo)

Two landmines exploded outside the plant’s perimeter fence – the first on April 8, and another four days later on Wednesday, according to the statement.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts, it said.

Grossi met senior Russian officials in Kaliningrad last week and prior to this with Zelensky in Zaporizhzhia to discuss a safety plan.

He also warned yesterday that the plant continued to depend on a single still-functioning power line, posing ‘a major risk to nuclear safety and security’.

A back-up power line damaged on March 1 has still not been repaired, the IAEA said.

It added that the staffing situation at the plant remained ‘complex and challenging’, in part because of staff shortages.

Last month, Grossi warned that a nuclear disaster was very possible due to the ‘perilous’ situation at the plant.

‘The plant’s lack of access to the grid and necessary repair work on its last emergency power line could cause a complete loss of power, making it reliant on diesel generators for the seventh time since Russia captured it,’ Grossi said at the time. 

Grossi met senior Russian officials in Kaliningrad last week and prior to this with Zelensky in Zaporizhzhia to discuss a safety plan

Grossi (pictured with Zelensky) warned yesterday that the plant continued to depend on a single still-functioning power line, posing ‘a major risk to nuclear safety and security’

‘I once again call for a commitment from all sides to secure nuclear safety and security protection at the plant,’ he added.

Emergency diesel generators had been activated to power the plant’s safety systems, according to Ukrainian nuclear energy agency Energoatom, which has warned of the risk of an accident.

Without the electricity produced by these generators, the overheating of the reactor fuel could cause a nuclear accident, as in Japan’s Fukushima in 2011.

Both sides have accused the other of shelling in the vicinity of the plant since Moscow troops captured it at the start of the war. 

The UN warning comes amid renewed Russian assaults in the eastern town of Bakhmut – an area which has seen heavy losses on both sides resulting in earning the nickname the ‘meat grinder’.

Mercenary group Wagner claim to have occupied most of the town but Kyiv denies this.

A picture taken during a visit to Enerhodar organised by the Russian military shows fragments of a missile in the area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

The Ministry of Defence confirmed this morning that Russia has ‘re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut’.

It said that while Ukraine still holds western districts, they have been subjected to ‘particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours’.

Meanwhile, FBI investigators have arrested Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old suspected of leaking US intelligence documents revealing Ukraine’s war secrets.

Teixeira, who will appear in court today, is set to be charged with removing or transmitting classified national defence information – a crime under the National Espionage Act.