(Reuters) -Ukraine will never agree to legalise the Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops is the only way to guarantee safety there, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement made no direct reference to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin’s statement during a visit to China that Moscow was ready to cooperate with the United States at the plant, seized in the first weeks after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is and will remain an integral part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine. Any attempts by Russia to question this fact are legally null and void and politically pointless,” the ministry said.
“The only way to restore nuclear safety is the immediate and complete withdrawal of Russian military and other personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
