On June 7, the British government announced it would increase its aid to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by an additional £750,000 (over $930,000) to support nuclear safety efforts in Ukraine.
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| The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is Ukraine's largest nuclear power facility in Europe, currently controlled by Russia. (Source: Depositphotos) |
The move comes after the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River – which supplies cooling water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), Ukraine's largest nuclear power facility and the largest in Europe – broke on June 6.
The incident caused flooding across the conflict zone, but both Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the event.
According to the IAEA, the Russian-controlled ZNPP in southern Ukraine has enough water to cool its reactors for "several months" from a pond located above the Kakhovka reservoir. The IAEA urged all parties to protect this pond.
The UK's Permanent Representative to the IAEA, Corinne Kitsell, expressed her welcome to the efforts of IAEA staff in Ukraine and said she was "pleased that London's additional assistance will contribute to facilitating the agency's important work, especially in light of the growing risk posed by the Kakhovka dam collapse."
London says it has provided a total of £5 million (over $6.2 million) to support the IAEA in Ukraine since Russia launched its special military operation in the Eastern European country in February 2022.
On the same day, speaking during a visit to the US, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that London could not yet definitively say Moscow was responsible for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
When asked whether Russia was responsible, Sunak replied: “Our security and military agencies are dealing with this… But if this incident is proven to be intentional, then that would be a new and worse development.”
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