The government of Ukraine recommended yesterday that civilians living in areas in the east and south of the country that are currently the scene of fighting leave their homes before temperatures drop, fearing a lack of basic amenities in winter. For now, Kiev has only designated evacuations in the Donetsk region as mandatory, but the escalation of tensions has led Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk to propose moves from the Kherson, Zaporizhia and Kharkov areas as well.
“Those who can should leave gradually,” he told public television, advising that no one should return to these areas before next spring, coinciding with the foreseeable arrival of heat. Ukraine is preparing in the eastern part for a winter when heating, electricity or water may not be guaranteed.
In this climate, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, made up of fourteen experts, arrived in the Zaporizhia region yesterday afternoon in a convoy of twenty vehicles and after traveling for nine hours with the aim of keeping an eye on the nuclear power plant. IAEA director Rafael Grossi said work will begin today, when they will make “technical assessments of the situation” and speak with plant staff.
“We are going to spend a few days there,” Grossi announced before heading to Zaporizhzhya, more than 500 kilometers from Kiev, where he was received on Tuesday by the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelensky, who offered his commitment to the mission.
The head of the IAEA asked for “guarantees” from both sides to do their jobs at the factory, which has been taken over by Russian forces since early March. The aim, as detailed, is for the delegation to make an effort to stabilize the situation “as far as possible”. “We will try to establish a permanent presence of the agency from then on,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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