IAEA calls for demilitarized zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine

Judy Woodruff:

Today, the United Nations' Atomic Energy Agency called for a demilitarized zone around Europe's largest nuclear plant. Russia has controlled the Zaporizhzhia plant in Southeast Ukraine for six months. And a new IAEA report today arrives amid increasing concerns about the plant's safety and security.

Our Nick Schifrin is in Ukraine tonight.

Nick Schifrin:

Ukraine's president calls it a nuclear weapon, a nuclear power plant occupied by an invading army, with Russian military vehicles parked inside, and, outside, remnants of shelling that U.S. officials blame on Russia.

Today, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told the Security Council the violence needs to end.

Rafael Grossi, Director General, IAEA:

The physical attack, wittingly or unwittingly, the hits that this facility has received and that I could personally see and assess, together with my experts, is simply unacceptable. We are playing with fire. And something very, very catastrophic could take place.

Nick Schifrin:

Grossi and his team visited the plant last week, escorted by a Russian nuclear official.

Today's IAEA report called the situation unsustainable and warned of damage to a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel and a radioactive waste storage facility. And the report calls for a protection zone around the plant, an improvement of staff conditions, and the end of military activities that have damaged the plant's source of electricity.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials accuse Russia of targeting the plant's incoming sources of power as part of a plan to reroute the plant's output away from Ukraine and into Russian-controlled territory. But those incoming sources of power prevent what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a radiation catastrophe.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

Russia is only interested in keeping the situation at its worst for as long as possible.

Nick Schifrin:

Meanwhile, in the Southern District of Kherson, Kyiv continues a major counteroffensive and says it is recapturing towns previously occupied by Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy:

We are liberating Ukrainians' territory from the Russian army. We have already started or invaded everything that was destroyed by the Russian terror.

Judy Woodruff:

And Nick joins me now from Zhytomyr, Ukraine.

So, Nick, hello.

Tell us, what are Ukrainian and American officials telling you right now about this Zaporizhzhia plant?

Nick Schifrin:

Ukrainian and American officials we speak to, Judy, are worried about three principal things. The first one is the staff.

Some were executed, some were tortured right after Russia took over the plant. And the worry is that a staff error could create some kind of nuclear incident.

But I spent today talking with a staff member from the plant. And he actually downplays of the risk a little bit. He says there about 4,000 to 5,000 staff still working in the plant. That's down from about 11,000.

And he said that Russian soldiers do not interrupt their work, and that he actually even wouldn't feel the presence of Russian soldiers, if not for the shelling, which brings us to point number two that people are worried about, the physical safety of the plant.

You heard Grossi identify damage to a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel. And U.S. officials tell me that Russia fired a rocket that created a fire at the coal ash inside the plant. But, overall, the U.S. says the structure is intact and they are not identifying any kind of increased radiation, which leads to number three, perhaps.

The principal concern on the U.S. and Ukrainian side is that the electricity running into the plant could be cut. The plant needs that electricity to cool the reactors to prevent any kind of meltdown. But the officials we're talking to say — and, in addition, the plant worker I spoke to said this as well — that the Russians are actually aiming their weapons at the sources of electricity, both the lines of electricity coming into Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as the power stations that form the plant's external sources of power.

Now, Ukrainian soldiers have launched an offensive to keep those lines intact. But the threat, Judy, that — the plant's power being taken away is incredibly dangerous. That is what led to Fukushima, that plant losing power. And that is what U.S. and Ukrainian officials are most worried about tonight.

Judy Woodruff:

So, Nick, is it understood why the Russians are doing this, targeting the electrical sources?

Nick Schifrin:

Yes, Ukrainian and U.S. officials believe that Russia is trying to redirect the output of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant away from Ukraine and into Russian-held territory.

And to do that, they are trying to physically destroy the electricity plants — the electricity lines, rather, that go from the plant into Ukraine. But they're also taking that incredibly dangerous step of targeting the incoming electricity as well.

That would require Russia, rather than Ukraine, Russia to supply electricity to the plant, something analysts we talk to say is incredibly difficult. But that's where control of the Kherson region to the south is so critical.

Take a look at this map. South of Zaporizhzhia is Kakhovka. The output of the power plant that goes to Russian-controlled Crimea goes through there. And the Ukrainians recently blew it up. The Russians now occupy Kakhovka. And they're trying to fix the electricity lines, so the plant's output can don't go down to Crimea.

And that is now one of the key targets, Judy, in the counteroffensive that Ukraine is waging.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, is there a sense — speaking of the southern part of Ukraine, Nick, is there an understanding of how the Ukrainian counteroffensive is going?

Nick Schifrin:

Yes, Ukrainian officials do say that they are making progress. They have seized at least two towns from Russian control.

And their — the goal, they say, is to re-seize momentum and to stabilize that front before it gets simply too cold in a couple of months, and they can't make any progress in the south.

And so let's go back to that map. The goals of the counteroffensive are to seize the area around Kherson city without entering Kherson city, which would be a bloody, brutal urban fight. Ukraine is hoping that Russian forces that are in the city actually evacuate, rather than leave to the last man.

We mentioned that second goal, Kakhovka, to make sure Russia can't export Zaporizhzhia's power down to Crimea.

And, Judy, those goals are actually more narrow than some of the options that Ukraine had before this war. The U.S. and Ukraine worked together, including using war games, to try and narrow those goals, to the point where U.S. officials are mostly positive that Ukraine can achieve those goals in the coming weeks and months — Judy.

Judy Woodruff:

All right, Nick Schifrin reporting for us from Ukraine, reporting from the city of Zhytomyr.

Thank you, Nick.

Nick Schifrin:

Thanks, Judy.