UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Thursday for the demilitarisation of the vast nuclear power plant held by Russia in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, saying he was gravely concerned by the situation in and around it.
Mr Guterres, speaking to reporters after talks in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said that military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant and called for efforts to ensure it is not the target of military operations.
"The facility must not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, agreement is urgently needed to reestablish Zaporizhzhia's purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the safety of the area," he said.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling the nuclear plant and on Thursday accused each other of preparing to stage a "provocation" at the vast complex.
Mr Zelenskyy said after meeting Mr Guterres that they had agreed on the parameters of a possible mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the plant.
"Russia should immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from the territory of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as stopping any provocations and shelling," he said.
Earlier, he accused Russia of "nuclear blackmail".
On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia's seizure of the plant "poses a serious threat to the safety and the security of this facility (and) raises the risks of a nuclear accident or incident".
Also calling for a Russian withdrawal and inspections by the IAEA, Mr Stoltenberg accused Moscow of using "the ground around the nuclear power plant as a staging area, as a platform, to launch artillery attacks on Ukrainian forces, and this is reckless".
Moscow had earlier rejected as "unacceptable" international calls for a demilitarised zone around the plant, which is still operated by Ukrainian engineers under Russian occupation.
It denied deploying any heavy weapons at the Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine where a recent escalation in fighting has increased fears of a nuclear disaster.
The power station sits on the Russian-controlled south bank of a huge reservoir; Ukrainian forces hold the north bank. Recent days have seen several incidents of shelling at the plant, which both sides blame on each other.
'Radiation disaster'
In Moscow, the defence ministry said Russia could shut the plant down if it came under further attack.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planning to shut the plant to sever it from Ukraine's power grid and switch it over to Russia's - effectively stealing its output.
Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom said shutting down the plant would increase the risk of "a radiation disaster at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe".
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the nearby nuclear power plant. Source: Getty / DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images
Shutting down a nuclear power plant is a complicated operation that requires halting nuclear chain reactions while protecting fuel from heating up and causing a meltdown.
Russia's defence ministry and Ukraine's main intelligence agency both accused the other side of planning some form of incident at the nuclear plant as a "provocation" to take place during Mr Guterres' visit.
Talks on ending conflict
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UN Chief Guterres and President Zelenskyy convened in the western city of Lviv, and said they had discussed ways to end the conflict.
Mr Erdogan said they had talked about using the positive atmosphere created by a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey to lift a Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports to revive peace negotiations that took place in Istanbul in March.
NATO member Turkey has maintained good relations with Russia, an important trade partner, and sought to mediate in the six-month-old conflict.
"Personally, I maintain my belief that the war will ultimately end at the negotiating table. Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Guterres have the same opinion in this regard," Mr Erdogan said.
He said they had also discussed the exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia, and that he would later raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Relatives of Ukrainian troops who surrendered at the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol under a UN-backed deal staged a demonstration during Mr Guterres's visit calling for more efforts to protect them.
Dozens of the Azovstal prisoners died in custody of Russian-backed separatists last month in a fiery blast at a prison. Kyiv called it a massacre and a war crime; Moscow accused Ukraine of having struck the prison with rockets, though it provided no explanation for why no guards were hurt.
After months in which Russian forces made modest territorial gains in heavy fighting in the east, front lines in Ukraine have been comparatively static in recent weeks.
Search and rescue works are carried out at site after a missile hit the dormitory building of city electric transport workers in Kharkiv, Ukraine on August 18, 2022. According to preliminary data, three people died as a result of the incident, including a 12-year-old boy, 22 people were injured, including a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. (Photo by Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Source: Getty / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The war has killed thousands and forced millions to flee. Moscow says its aim is to demilitarise Ukraine and protect Russian-speakers on land that Putin says historically belongs to Russia.
Kyiv and the West call it an unprovoked war to conquer Ukraine and erase its thousand-year national identity.
Relentless strikes
Russian strikes have battered the northeast Ukraine region of Kharkiv, killing at least five people.
The strikes in the war-scarred east of the country come a day after bombardments killed at least seven in the city and as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mr Guterres were convening in the western city of Lviv.
The head of the Kharkiv region Oleg Synegubov said Moscow's forces had launched eight missiles from Russian territory early on Thursday morning, local time, striking across the city.
"Three people died, including a child. Eight people, including two children, were rescued," the emergency services said.
In separate strikes on the town of Krasnograd southwest of Kharkiv, bombardments that damaged residential buildings left two dead and two more injured, he said.
"Kharkiv. 175 days of horror. Daily terror, missile strikes on residential areas and civilians," a senior presidential aide, Mykhaylo Podolyak, wrote on social media.
The UN chief is slated to travel on Friday to Odessa, one of three ports involved in the grain exports deal - hammered out in July under the aegis of the UN with Ankara's mediation.
He will then head to Turkey to visit the Joint Coordination Centre, the body tasked with overseeing the accord.
According to the UN, the first half of August saw 21 freighters authorised to sail under the deal carrying more than 563,000 tonnes of agricultural products, including more than 451,000 tonnes of corn.
The first wartime shipment of UN food aid for Africa reached the Bosphorus Strait on Wednesday carrying 23,000 tonnes of wheat.
'Provocation'
Russia's defence ministry meanwhile said its forces had not deployed heavy weapons at the Zaporizhzhia plant, accusing Kyiv of preparing a "provocation" at the station.
"Russian troops have no heavy weapons either on the territory of the station or in areas around it. There are only guard units," the ministry said in a statement.
Mr Zelenskyy touched on the Zaporizhzhia plant in his address on Wednesday, saying Ukrainian diplomats and scientists were in "constant touch" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the goal of sending a mission by the watchdog to the occupied nuclear facility.
"The Russian army must withdraw from the territory of the nuclear power plant and all neighbouring areas, and take away its military equipment from the plant," he added. "This must happen without any conditions and as soon as possible."
Earlier Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia's seizure of the plant "poses a serious threat to the safety and the security of this facility (and) raises the risks of a nuclear accident or incident".
Also calling for a Russian withdrawal and inspections by the IAEA, Stoltenberg accused Moscow of using "the ground around the nuclear power plant as a staging area, as a platform, to launch artillery attacks on Ukrainian forces, and this is reckless".
