The resolution on nuclear safety, security, and safeguards in Ukraine, adopted during the 70th session of the IAEA General Conference, received 63 affirmative votes, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha announced.
“It reaffirms fundamental principles: nuclear safety and security must be guaranteed, international law upheld, Russia’s unauthorized military and other personnel withdrawn from the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Ukraine’s full sovereign control over the facility restored,” he wrote on the social network X overnight into Friday.
Sybiha thanked Canada for its leadership in advancing this resolution, as well as all IAEA member states that supported it.
He noted that it is equally important that 49 countries and the European Union supported a joint statement calling for the immediate release of the detained Ukrainian personnel from the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. Sybiha emphasized that real people—whose rights Russia continues to violate—stand behind this demand.
“Serhiy Korzh has been held since 2022. Serhiy Potyng has endured torture in captivity and is now suffering serious health problems. Ruslan Lavryk has reportedly been subjected to torture and urgently needs medical care. They are nuclear professionals whose expertise is essential for the safe operation of the ZNPP. They cannot be treated as bargaining chips in Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the minister said.
Sybiha emphasized that Russia's actions at the Zaporizhia NPP demonstrate a profound disregard for nuclear safety.
“Occupying and militarizing a nuclear facility while detaining and mistreating the professionals responsible for its safe operation creates risks that extend far beyond Ukraine. Such disregard for nuclear safety cannot come without consequences. Russia must be held accountable for the risks it deliberately creates,” he noted.
