Statement by Representative of Slovenia to the UN Security Council Ambassador Samuel Žbogar at the briefing on the Threats to International Peace and Security in Ukraine (ZNPP)

Madame President,

I would like to thank Director General Grossi for his comprehensive briefing and insights.

Madame President,

We found ourselves on dangerous and uncharted territory. On Sunday, April 6, for the first time in history a reactor building of a commissioned nuclear power plant was hit. There was no time for pause as another drone hit ground in the vicinity of the power plant perimeter last Tuesday.

There can be no understatement about how dangerous the situation at ZNPP has become. The seven indispensable pillars for nuclear security and safety and specially the five basic principles for the protection of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) must be respected.

At the same time, the incident also highlighted persistent risks to ZNPP and other nuclear facilities in Ukraine during this war of aggression.

As DG Grossi pointed out: we are in dire need of military restraint, this is playing with fire. As we all know, playing with fire is unadvisable, playing with nuclear fuel rods even less so.

Madame President,

We appreciate IAEA’s role in keeping the international community abreast of the developments around ZNPP and Ukrainian civilian nuclear infrastructure in general. The presence of IAEA staff at all Ukrainian NPPs represents a vital stabilizing factor in a situation that is very perilous.

We note with concern that the IAEA team at ZNPP was denied access to some of the relevant sites and was not able to assess the full impact of the damage. We call on Russia to immediately grant access to the IAEA experts on site.

At the same time, and this cannot be emphasized enough, we would not be dealing with this situation, if Russia had not launched its full scale invasion on Ukraine and illegally occupied the nuclear power plant. We call on Russia to immediately return the control of the plant to of its rightful owner.

Madame President,

We believe that neither side would wish to launch a deliberate direct attack against a commissioned nuclear reactor. Nevertheless, the unpredictability of this war has brought us to the brink of a disaster that would be devastating for the whole region and would have global impacts.

Slovenia has been warning about the looming dangers since Russia first attacked and subsequently occupied the plant in March 2022. We have been saying this as a country with a civil nuclear program and its own NPP. We are fully and first-hand aware of the importance of ensuring and maintaining nuclear security and safety.

Colleagues the situation in Ukraine and including ZNPP represent a threat to international peace and security. The Security Council should reflect on ways to ensure compliance with seven pillars and five basic principles and we stand ready to engage.

Thank you.

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