UN watchdog says landmines are placed around Ukrainian nuke plant occupied by Russia

By FELIPE DANA
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.N. atomic watchdog says its staff at Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant report seeing anti-personnel mines around the site. The report comes as Kyiv pursues a counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s entrenched forces after 17 months of war. The IAEA says having mines at the site is “inconsistent” with safety standards and nuclear security guidance. However, the statement late Monday said that any detonation of the mines, located between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers, should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems. The watchdog has repeatedly expressed concern about the facility, which is one of the 10 biggest in the world, amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.