Mr. In a phone interview with Macron, Vladimir Putin drew attention to “conventional Ukrainian attacks against the sites of the Zaporizhia power plant, including the placement of radioactive waste, which could lead to catastrophic consequences,” according to a Kremlin statement.
“The measures taken by Russian experts to ensure the safety of the plant and the need to put pressure on the Kyiv authorities to immediately stop the bombings targeting the plant,” the Russian president told his French counterpart.
The two leaders expressed their willingness to “cooperate apolitically on the situation surrounding the Zaporizhia power plant, with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
According to the Kremlin, the interview took place at the initiative of the French president.
During the phone conversation, Vladimir Putin again condemned the supply of Western weapons to the Kiev regime, which was used for “massive bombing of the civilian infrastructure of the cities of Donbass”, a mine basin in the east of Ukraine.
Macron’s claims
During the interview, Emmanuel Macron told his counterpart Vladimir Putin that “Russian aggression is the reason for the dangers weighing on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia” and he asked for the removal of “heavy weapons and light”. Its part is the Elysée.
Emmanuel Macron will “stay in touch” with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and IAEA Director General Raffaele Grossi, and will “talk again” in the coming days. Security of the centre,” the French president added in a press release.
During this Sunday’s appeal, Emmanuel Macron “condemned the continuation of Russian military operations in Ukraine and called for their immediate cessation, the start of negotiations and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” according to Elysée.
Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by phone again on Saturday, and Elysée indicated that the situation around the power plant was “extremely worrying.”
The French head of state “also made the necessary clarifications with his Russian counterpart on world food security”, underlined the French president, and he recalled that “European sanctions do not apply to agricultural products or to those essential to agriculture”.
“He asked President Putin to ensure that the agreement reached by Russia with Ukraine and Turkey, under the supervision of the United Nations, is implemented so that the exported grain goes to those who need it most urgently,” he said.
The deal, reached in Istanbul on July 22, has banned Ukrainian wheat and maize exports, which have so far been hampered by a Russian military offensive, fueling fears of a food crisis.
But Russia says its own food and fertilizer exports continue to suffer from Western sanctions aimed at Moscow for its military intervention.
On Wednesday, the Russian leader said that Ukrainian exports mainly went to Europe, not poor countries.
This is not the first Macron-Putin interview regarding the nuclear power plant
Recall that Putin and Macron already talked on the phone about the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant on August 19.
Located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Russian forces, the plant, the largest in Europe, has been bombed several times in recent weeks, with Moscow and Kiev blaming each other for the strikes.
This situation raised fears of a major disaster similar to Chernobyl in 1986.
On Sunday, Ukraine announced the shutdown of the sixth and last operating reactor at the Zaporizhia power plant, explaining that it needed to cool it down.
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