The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine firmly rejects the latest unfounded accusations by the Russian Federation regarding the alleged "attack by Ukraine" on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, disseminated on May 30 by representatives of the Russian state corporation "Rosatom." The Russian accusations have also been officially refuted by the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

We consider these statements as yet another information operation by the occupying state, aimed at diverting the international community's attention from the only real source of nuclear danger at the Zaporizhzhia NPP — the illegal Russian occupation of the station.

As always, Russian accusations lack logic: it is unclear why Ukraine would strike its own nuclear power plant located on its own territory, which it itself seeks to regain under its sovereign control.

Russian propaganda is trying to promote the absurd notion again and again: the state that is defending its territory is supposedly attacking its own nuclear facilities, while the state that has occupied them is acting as their "protector." The very fact that it is necessary to repeat this thesis already indicates its untenability.

The Russian Federation has been refusing for years to provide full and unrestricted access to international experts to all areas of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In particular, throughout the entire time of the IAEA mission at the station, international experts were not granted access to the western parts of the turbine halls of the power units. The Russian side also systematically restricted access to other facilities and premises of the station under various pretexts.

A state that does not allow international inspectors into certain areas of the occupied nuclear facility today demands the world to trust its own reports about events at the same facility.

Ukraine draws the attention of the IAEA member states to an obvious pattern: practically before every meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, the Russian Federation launches a new wave of information manipulation around the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The details, pretexts, and wording change, but the goal remains the same – to divert the international community's attention from the illegal occupation of the station, the systematic limitation of the IAEA's activities, Russia's violation of international law, and the fact that the Russian military presence at the ZNPP remains the main threat to nuclear safety.

The current provocation occurs on the eve of the June session of the IAEA Board of Governors, during which member countries will consider the Agency's Annual Report for 2025 and the Director General's Report on the Application of Safeguards.

For Russia, these documents pose a serious political problem. They will reiterate what Moscow has been unsuccessfully trying to change for the fourth year in a row: the IAEA does not recognize any Russian claims on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; the IAEA does not recognize any Russian jurisdiction over Ukrainian nuclear facilities located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine; the Agency continues to assert that the ZNPP is a Ukrainian nuclear facility under illegal Russian occupation. The same applies to other Ukrainian nuclear facilities in temporarily occupied territories, including those in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in particular the Sevastopol research reactor and the subcritical nuclear assembly to which Russia unsuccessfully attempts to extend its illegal claims.

No information campaign will change the main fact: the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was, is, and will remain a Ukrainian nuclear power station.

We specifically address the member countries of the IAEA Board of Governors. For many years, the international community has responded to Russian nuclear provocations with statements of concern, calls for restraint, and diplomatic formulas. Russia responds to concern with new provocations, to calls for restraint – new violations, to diplomatic signals – further escalation.

Ukraine calls on the 34 members of the IAEA Board of Governors to respond to the actions of the Russian Federation not only in statements but also in decisions.

For many years, Russia has enjoyed the privileges and authority granted by membership in the Agency's governing bodies, while simultaneously grossly violating fundamental principles of nuclear safety, occupying the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, obstructing the work of international inspectors, and using nuclear facilities as instruments of military and political pressure.

Today, the members of the IAEA Board of Governors have the opportunity to demonstrate that this behavior cannot go unpunished.

We call on the members of the Council not to support granting the Russian Federation a seat on the IAEA Board of Governors at their June session.