The security protection zone around the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in its narrower sense as nuclear safety is possible and realistic, but it is not yet possible to name specific dates for its creation, negotiations are ongoing, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said.

"I think this [the creation of a security zone] is quite realistic. We have proposed something quite feasible… What we are proposing is very simple: don't shell the plant, don't shell from the plant," he said at a press conference in Vienna on Wednesday.

Grossi announced a new series of consultations this week and next.

At the same time, he found it difficult to name the time frame when such a zone could be created, emphasizing only that it must be created as quickly as possible as the risks of shelling and interruption of the plant's external power supply remain.

The IAEA head recalled that there were debates about whether it would be a fully demilitarized zone or whether the UN Blue Helmets or "something like that" could be involved, but since these alternatives are politically very difficult to implement, the proposal was narrowed down to purely nuclear safety.

According to him, this was a reasonable way forward, since neither Ukraine nor the Russian Federation rejected such an approach, which gave hope and material for work.

Grossi stressed that this is not a 24-page agreement with annexes, but a simple agreement that would reflect the will and very serious political commitment of both sides to stop doing what is still happening.

The head of the agency did not give more details, citing upcoming consultations and that ongoing negotiations also include military aspects.

"I would say that the main issues that are being discussed are issues related to military equipment. And some are also related to the radius: you can imagine that the two warring countries have different goals. And I think they don't want these military installations to be affected," Grossi said.

Zaporizhia NPP is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, it has six VVER-1000 power units. At the moment, the plant does not generate electricity: on September 11, the last operating reactor was shut down.