Ukraine has denied Director General of the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi a visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant until it is liberated, Energoatom reported.
“The Ukrainian side did not invite Grossi to visit ZNPP and previously denied him such a visit, stressing that a visit to the plant would be possible only when control over it was returned to our country,” Energoatom’s Telegram channel reported on Tuesday.
The message from Grossi that he received an invitation from Ukraine to visit the occupied ZNPP was called by the company another attempt to get to the plant by any means in order to legitimize the stay of the Russian occupiers there and, in fact, approve all their actions.
“There will be conclusions from the IAEA, such as “the plant continues to operate safely, the radiation background is normal, there are no radiation leaks, nuclear materials are kept safe, the Russian military and representatives of Rosatom take care of this, and there are no complaints against them,” Energoatom warns “.
At the same time, they explained the situation with the termination of the ZNPP online transmission of data to the agency on the state of affairs with nuclear materials, by which Grossi, in particular, explained the need for his visit.
“Loss of communication” between ZNPP and the IAEA was caused by the actions of the Russian invaders, who disconnected the Ukrainian operator Vodafone in Energodar, and the IAEA has a data transmission contract with Vodafone,” the NAEC described the situation.
At the same time, the company noted that all data collection points and servers that were under the control of the agency were closed and sealed. The information itself is accumulated on the server and will be transmitted when Vodafone is turned on.
“It seems very likely that it was the Russian side, by prior agreement with the IAEA, who made sure that the agency “lost control” without having access to this information, which means that the IAEA director general had a reason to come to the station,” Energoatom admitted.
In addition, they expressed the opinion that Grossi’s previous visits to Ukraine did not bring any benefit.
“Let us recall that on the way back after visiting the Pivdennoukrainsk NPP, he went to a meeting with the head of Rosatom, and together they reported to the world how good everything was at the Zaporozhye station,” the company stressed.
They also recalled that almost a quarter of the IAEA leadership consists of Russians, which casts doubt on the objectivity of its decision-making.
On June 6, Grossi tweeted once again that the IAEA was preparing an expert mission to the ZNPP, noting that it had stopped transmitting data, and referred to the invitation of Ukraine.
“Ukraine invited us, we will go there,” he wrote.
As reported, speaking at the opening of the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Grossi called on the Board to support him in organizing a visit to the Zaporizhzhya NPP, and also noted that this issue needs UN support.
During the war, the IAEA carried out three expert missions in Ukraine – one to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant and two to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Number of unemployed in Ukraine and job opportunities, Jan 21 – Apr 22
The number of registered cases of coronavirus infection in the world as of Tuesday morning reached 532 million 350 thousand 904, according to data from the American Johns Hopkins University.
Since the beginning of the spread of the virus in the world, 6 million 300 thousand 53 people have died from the consequences of infection with COVID-19.
Countries with more than 20 million infections continue to include the United States, India, Brazil, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The number of infected and those who died from the consequences of infection, respectively, amounted to:
USA – 84 million 882 thousand 287 and 1 million 8 thousand 857.
India – 43 million 185 thousand 49 and 524 thousand 708.
Brazil – 31 million 195 thousand 118 and 667 thousand 41.
France – 29 million 834 thousand 390 and 149 thousand 509.
Germany – 26 million 498 thousand 361 and 139 thousand 388.
Great Britain – 22 million 526 thousand 949 and 179 thousand 532.
According to the portal Worldometers, which specializes in statistics on major world events, the death rate per 1 million people on the planet reached 811.0 on Tuesday morning. In the USA, 3 thousand 88 people died per 1 million inhabitants, India – 373, Brazil – 3 thousand 96, France – 2 thousand 265, Germany – 1 thousand 658, Great Britain – 2 thousand 608.
Rescue equipment worth $50 million was handed over to Ukrainian law enforcement officers by the American side, other aid packages are expected to be handed over in the near future, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
Proud to strengthen our partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and Minister Monastyrsky to support Ukraine’s law enforcement with $50 million in life-saving equipment. More is on the way,” Brink said on Twitter on Monday.
The ambassador also noted that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the National Guard and the National Police of Ukraine, which are part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “have displayed true heroism in the most dire conditions.”
Ukrainians have reduced the rate of importing cars from Europe on preferential terms: on average, 2.65 thousand cars entered per day in early June compared to 4-5 thousand in May on a weekday, said the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance , tax and customs policy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
“As of June 6, 140,310 cars were imported from us. The total amount of the tax rebate was provided for UAH 15.4 billion,” he said on the Telegram channel on Monday.
According to him, the largest number of such cars drove through the Volyn customs – almost 36 thousand, followed by Lviv customs, through which over 27 thousand cars drove in and Rivne customs – almost 14 thousand cars.
He added that, excluding benefits for cars, the budget received less revenue from duties and VAT on imports of UAH 9.17 billion.
As reported, from April 6, the Verkhovna Rada exempted the import of goods to Ukraine from import duties and VAT for single tax payers of the first and third groups, paying tax at a rate of 2% of turnover, and also established a simplified form of customs clearance. The deputies also completely exempted the import of vehicles by citizens, as well as subjects of the simplified system, from taxation.
At the same time, at the end of May, the Cabinet of Ministers registered in the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 7418 on the return of all customs duties and VAT on imported goods, including cars. In particular, it is proposed to cancel the customs-free import of cars from July 1.
According to the State Border Service, over the past two weeks, about 18.6 thousand cars cross the western border of Ukraine in both directions every day.
The government of Ukraine is discussing granting English the status of the language of business communication in the country, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said.
“English can get the status of the language of business communication in Ukraine. We discussed this possibility at a government meeting,” Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram channel.
According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers is currently working on a relevant legislative initiative.
“English is now used in business communication throughout the civilized world, so granting it such a status in Ukraine will help develop business, attract investment and accelerate Ukraine’s European integration,” the prime minister added.
Shmyhal noted that the relevant ministries were given the task of developing proposals and drawing up relevant documents.
