The shelling and seizure by the russian military of nuclear installations and other facilities containing radioactive materials and radiation sources located on the territory of Ukraine grossly violate all existing international law standards, nuclear and radiation safety requirements and have nothing to do with ensuring nuclear and radiation safety in Ukraine. These are just mutually exclusive processes. Nuclear terrorism acts committed by the russian federation on the territory of Ukraine are incompatible with the safety issues and in general, the aggressor-country cannot talk about any assuring of nuclear and radiation safety. A country whose military are killing a peacefull population, children and women is not capable to ensure safety.

Currently, the “assistance” from russia comes in the form of seizure of facilities in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, Chornobyl NPP, spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities, and more than 700 facilities for temporary localization points of Chornobyl origin radioactive waste; shelling of the radioactive waste storage points of the Kharkiv interregional branch of the Radon Association State Enterprise and the radioactive waste disposal points of the Radon Association in Kyiv. In addition, “assistance” from the russian federation is provided in the form of seizure of the Zaporizhzhia NPP industrial site, which houses 7 nuclear facilities; military shelling of medical institutions, civilian industrial enterprises and research institutions of Ukraine, which used radionuclide radiation sources and radioactive materials or exercised their management; systematic shelling by the aggressor-country of the research nuclear installation “Neutron Source Based on a Subcritical Assembly Driven by a Linear Electron Accelerator” located in Kharkiv (with 37 nuclear fuel elements loaded).

Holding the personnel of nuclear facilities hostage, threatening and not providing the opportunity for personnel rotaton due the above listed actions, Russia is creating a DANGER.

Ukraine, from the date of signing and ratifying the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, the Agreement between Ukraine and the IAEA on the Application of Safeguards under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and other Conventions and international agreements, fulfills in full the commitments made and the ability to continue doing so after the troops of the russian federation leave the nuclear facilities of Ukraine and the territory of Ukraine.

We emphasize once again that the russian federation violates all existing and possible rules of international law, nuclear and radiation safety requirements, including the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law and the IAEA Charter, the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, of 8 June 1977, the Resolution of the IAEA General Conference on the Prohibition of Military Attacks on Peaceful Nuclear Infrastructure, the Rules of International Humanitarian Law, etc.

Attacks of the russian troops on Ukraine’s nuclear facilities and other facilities containing radioactive materials and radionuclide radiation sources deal a terrible blow to the international nuclear and security regime and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.