UN demands Russia withdraw from Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday demanded that Russia "urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorized personnel" from Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and return it to the full control of Ukrainian authorities, Reuters reports.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution with 99 votes in favor, nine against and 60 abstentions.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest in Europe, was captured by Russia shortly after it launched its aggression in Ukraine in February 2022, the report adds. The nuclear plant is shut down but needs external power to keep its nuclear material cool and prevent a meltdown.

Throughout the war, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the plant and putting down power lines. 

Speaking before the vote, Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya urged countries to vote in favor of the resolution.

Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the General Assembly before the vote that the aim of the resolution was "to try to promote the false Western narrative about the source of threats to nuclear facilities in Ukraine."

He held up in the General Assembly what he said was the wreckage of a Ukrainian drone that had been used to attack the Zaporizhzhia power plant on April 7, Reuters adds. Ukraine has denied it was behind the drone attacks that Polyanskiy referenced.

The U.N. resolution "calls for immediate cessation of the attacks by the Russian Federation against critical energy infrastructure of Ukraine, which increase the risk of a nuclear accident or incident at all nuclear facilities of Ukraine."