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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday criticised what he said was the obstruction of independent media covering the UN visit to the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant. Follow FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
6:00am: Zelensky accuses Russia of blocking journalists’ access to power plant
Speaking in his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had agreed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission that members of the independent media “would accompany the mission for the world to see the truth and what is really happening”.
However, he said, Russia instead blocked access to journalists and “organised a crowd of their propagandists”.
10:30pm: UN inspectors at nuclear plant ‘not going anywhere’
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has spoken to reporters upon crossing back into Ukrainian-held territory after leading a team of nuclear inspectors to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine.
Grossi said he had been able to tour the entire site, seeing key areas such as the emergency systems and control rooms. His team would now need to do a lot of work to finish its analysis of worrisome technical aspects.
“We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there,” a tired-looking Grossi said after what he called a long day.
The IAEA chief said members of his team would stay at the plant to provide an impartial, technical assessment of what is happening on the ground. They would dig deeper into conditions and deliver a report.
“It is obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant have been violated, several times … This is something that cannot continue to happen,” he said.
10:15pm: Grain ship from Ukraine grounded in Istanbul, halting traffic
A cargo ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of corn from Ukraine under a UN-brokered export deal has drifted aground in Turkey’s Bosphorus strait, halting shipping through Istanbul, according to the governor’s office and a shipping firm.
The Istanbul governor’s office said the 173-metre “Lady Zehma” was safely grounded and anchored after a rudder failure around 1800 GMT. No one was hurt and Coast Guards were attending, it said.
Earlier this week the Joint Coordination Centre – run by the United Nations, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey after a grains-export deal was reached – said the Lady Zehma was cleared to depart Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port for Ravenna, Italy, with 3,000 tonnes of corn.
7:15am: IAEA presence at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘hugely beneficial’
A long-term or permanent presence by IAEA nuclear inspectors at the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine “would be hugely beneficial” in terms of easing fears of a nuclear incident, says Dr Ross Peel, a nuclear expert at King’s College London.
Such a presence “would allow constant monitoring of conditions at the plant, real independent evidence coming out constantly about what is going on there,” he told FRANCE 24, noting that “disinformation and misinformation have played a huge role so far in this conflict”.
“Shelling near any nuclear site is obviously a grave concern and we should be avoiding that whenever possible,” Dr Peel said. “Even when shells are targeted away from critical systems, things can go off target.”
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The nuclear expert said IAEA inspectors would be looking to determine “what the conditions have been for workers at the plant” and whether they have been able “to perform their duties safely”.
He added: “I expect they will find signs of several damage to the plant and its systems but hopefully (the damage) can be addressed.”
6:45pm: Gorbachev died ‘shocked and bewildered’ by Ukraine war
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who died on Tuesday aged 91, was shocked and bewildered by the Ukraine conflict and saddened by years of worsening ties between Moscow and Kyiv, his interpreter has said.
Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years and was at his side at numerous US-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised he was by events in Ukraine.
“It’s not just the (military) operation that started on Feb. 24, but the entire evolution of relations between Russia and Ukraine over the past years that was really, really a big blow to him. It really crushed him emotionally and psychologically,” Palazhchenko told Reuters in an interview.
“It was very obvious to us in our conversations that he was shocked and bewildered by what was happening. He believed not just in the closeness of the Russian and Ukrainian people, he believed that those two nations were intermingled,” Palazhchenko added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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