(Reuters) – A safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-controlled Ukraine is not possible while the front line is 100 km (62 miles) away, the Russian-installed leader of the region said on Wednesday.
“I can tell you that negotiating while the front line is 100 kilometres away from the station … I think that’s extremely unsafe,” Yevgeny Balitsky told state television.
He also warned that it is not possible to shut down the plant, despite fears shelling could further compromise its safety.
“It’s not a toy, you can’t just turn it on and off like a switch. There’s overclocking, there’s cooling and so-forth,” Balitsky said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has been pushing for a demilitarised security zone around the plant, Europe’s largest, which remains close to the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the plant and the facilities around it, risking a nuclear accident.
The plant was recently forced to use emergency diesel generators after a power line supplying the plant was cut again, U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
