Ukrainian Foreign Minister Urges World to Act Over Nuclear Plant Attacks

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has put forward five steps that Western governments and organisations should take following Russian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Oct. 9, Kuleba said: “Last night Russia fired over 20 missiles on residential areas in Zaporizhzhia, which killed at least 13 people and injured 60, including 6 children.”

“The only goal of Russia’s deliberate attacks was to cause death and destruction to civilian people, sow terror and fear,” he said. “Deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. By launching missile attacks on civilians sleeping at their homes, Russia has proven once again that it is a terrorist state that must be contained in the strongest possible ways in order to prevent further heinous atrocities.”

Kuleba then stressed that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and other organisations capable of prosecuting crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine should “urgently deploy investigators and experts to the site in order to document evidence of Russia’s war crimes and to bring perpetrators to account.”

The diplomat urged the U.S. to “designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and other countries to recognize Russia as a terrorist state.”Addressing the international community, he urged world leaders to “resolutely condemn Russia over its inhumane attacks on Zaporizhzhia and step up pressure through tough new sanctions which will defund Russia’s war machine.”

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On the supply of weapons to assist Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, Kuleba implored Ukraine’s allies to “urgently provide Ukraine with more modern air defense (AD) and missile defense (MD) systems.”

“Deliveries of this vital equipment must be sped up,” he added. “These four letters, AD and MD, mean lives to us. Lives of our children who go to bed in Zaporizhzhia and other Ukrainian cities not knowing whether they will wake up.  These systems can be saving lives in Ukraine right now, instead of standing in warehouses.”

Finally, Kuleba urged countries remaining neutral in their position towards Russia’s invasion to “immediately send their representatives to Zaporizhzhia and spend a night in residential areas to feel what they cover up with their neutrality.”