India expresses concern over reports of shelling near Ukraine's nuclear power plant

"We call for mutual restraint so as not to endanger the safety and security of nuclear facilities," India's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said

India has expressed concern over reports of shelling near the spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine and called for mutual restraint to ensure that the safety and security of nuclear facilities are not endangered.

"We continue to carefully follow developments regarding the safety and security of Ukraine's nuclear power reactors and facilities. India attaches high importance to ensuring the safety and security of these facilities, as any accident involving nuclear facilities could potentially have severe consequences for public health and the environment," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, said on Thursday.

Explained | What happened at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?

Speaking at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) briefing on Ukraine, Ms. Kamboj said India expresses its concern over the reports of shelling near the spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

"We call for mutual restraint so as not to endanger the safety and security of nuclear facilities," she said at the open meeting in the security council on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi told the UNSC meeting that on August 5, the Zaporizhzhia plant — Europe's largest — was subjected to shelling, which caused several explosions near the electrical switchboard and a power shutdown.

Ukraine has informed the IAEA that 10 of the country's 15 nuclear energy reactors — two at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, three at the Rivne NPP, three at the South Ukraine NPP and two at the Khmelnytskyy NPP — are currently connected to the grid.