Oleksandr Motsyk
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, PhD in Political Science, Full professor at the Department of International Relations and Strategic Studies, State University ‘Kyiv Aviation Institute’
DOI:
Abstract. The article discusses the seizure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant by russian troops. It was the first incident in the history of nuclear energy in which a foreign power occupied an active nuclear power plant. The plant remains occupied and has been transformed by the occupying forces from a source of cheap and environmentally friendly electricity into a military base filled with heavy military equipment, weapons, and soldiers. The invaders have essentially turned the ZNPP into a time bomb.
Drawing on various international legal texts, it is argued that, within the scope of this crime, the invaders perpetrated a series of other war crimes against the personnel and their families. The article emphasises that the de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and its return to Ukrainian control, the imposition of severe international sanctions against Rosatom by the European Union, the United States of America, and other countries, compensation by russia for the losses incurred by the ZNPP, and prosecution of legal entities and individuals of the aggressor state for crimes related to the occupation of the plant are imperative as a preventive measure for other potential aggressor states, demonstrating that nuclear power plants must not be objects of attack and occupation.
The author underlines that only the swiftest possible de-occupation of the station and its restoration under Ukrainian control can eliminate the possibility of catastrophic scenarios. The return of ZNPP’s generating capacity to Ukraine’s national energy balance will be one of the key requirements for post-war reconstruction.
Keywords: de-occupation, Zaporizhzhia NPP, atomic energy, United Nations, IAEA, aggressor state, nuclear power plant, energy balance.
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