The IAEA said inspectors had started “audit activities” in two locations in Ukraine and would soon complete them. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi wanted to announce the results of the investigations this week. The reviews follow a written request from Kyiv.
Moscow has been accusing Ukraine of working on a so-called dirty bomb for days. According to Russian information, it is to be manufactured in two Ukrainian facilities. Ukraine and its Western backers vehemently deny the accusation. Kyiv warns that Russia itself could plan to use such a weapon.
A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device that releases radioactive, chemical, or biological material when it detonates.
Scholz promised Selenskyj further comprehensive help during the conversation on Monday. Germany will not let up in providing concrete political, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine, as well as in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including arms deliveries, it said in a statement. Accordingly, the Federal Chancellor also condemned the continued targeted shelling of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine by the Russian armed forces.
Massive Russian air strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure caused power outages in countless communities and cities on Monday, including the capital Kyiv, Lviv in the west, Zaporizhia in the south and Kharkiv in the north-east of the country.
With regard to the suspension of the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine by Russia, Scholz and Zelenskyj called for its implementation not to be jeopardized in order not to further burden the global food situation.
After a drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russia suspended its participation in the Ukrainian grain export agreement on Saturday.
The UN Humanitarian Aid Office (Ocha) has dismissed Russian allegations that a civilian cargo ship loaded with Ukrainian grain may have been involved in a drone attack on Russia. At the time of the attack, no such ships were in the “safe zone” of the Black Sea grain corridor, Ocha boss Martin Griffiths told the Security Council in New York.
The corridor is “just a line on a map” and offers “neither cover nor protection for offensive or defensive military actions,” Griffiths emphasized.
Moscow meanwhile demanded “commitments” from Ukraine not to use the grain corridor “for military purposes”. The security of “anything in this area” cannot be guaranteed unless Ukraine makes “additional commitments” in this regard, the Russian Defense Ministry said in the online service Telegram.
The US State Department then accused Russia of “extortion”. The agreement is not a matter between two countries, but an “imperative necessity” for developing countries.
