John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said: “We continue to believe that in the short term, containment and shutdown of reactors is the safer and less dangerous option.
The Americans insisted that Russia had “demilitarized” Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on the day 14-experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left for the Zaporizhia plant.
Kirby also hailed the launch of an international mission assigned to monitor the condition of the nuclear power plant ‘in situ’.
The plant was seized by Russian forces two weeks after Moscow’s military offensive against the neighboring country began on February 24.
Since then, Ukraine and Russia have exchanged accusations over attacks on Zaporizhia.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council also assessed the evolution of the military front, noting that there is a “good chance” that Ukrainian forces will recapture land.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian army announced that it had launched a multi-pronged offensive in the south of the country and managed to break through the first line of Russian troops in the Kherson region.
On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry said today that it had foiled “Ukrainian offensive attempts” in Kherson and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.
While the exact scope of the Ukrainian operations is not yet fully known, the White House has said that Russia has already had to shift resources from eastern Ukraine to the south, potentially losing some of what it has gained in recent months.
“From a strategic perspective, [a ofensiva ucraniana] “has already had an impact on Russian military capabilities inside Ukraine,” he stressed.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already displaced nearly 13 million people – more than six million internally displaced people and nearly seven million to neighboring countries – according to the latest UN data, which ranks this refugee crisis. Worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and militarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. Across sectors from banking to energy and sports.
