UN Assembly Demands Immediate Russian Withdrawal From Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on the safety and protection of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities, especially the Zaporizhzhia NPP, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on X (formerly Twitter).

The UN passes nuclear safety resolution

Expressing concern over the unstable situation with nuclear safety and security at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the resolution calls on Russia to remove military and other unauthorized personnel from the plant and demands its immediate return to full Ukrainian control.

The document fully supports the IAEA‘s mandate to address risks to nuclear safety and security during armed conflict and recognizes the importance of the agency’s principles to help ensure the protection of the Zaporizhzhia NPP (ZNPP).

Belarus, Burundi, Cuba, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, and Syria voted against the document.

Zelensky stated: “The resolution reiterates the need for the demilitarization and de-occupation of the ZNPP in light of Russia’s failure to comply with the resolutions of the IAEA’s governing bodies.”

Resolution on nuclear safety

As noted in the draft resolution of the General Assembly at the Peace Summit in Switzerland, any use of nuclear energy and nuclear facilities should be safe, secure, reliably guarded and not harmful to the environment, and that Ukrainian nuclear plants and facilities, in particular the ZNPP, should remain under the full sovereign control of Ukraine in accordance with the principles of the IAEA.

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55 countries, including all G7countries, became co-sponsors of the draft resolution.