Russia must cede the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant it seized in early March back to officials in Kiev, the Group of Seven (G7) has declared.
“We demand that Russia immediately hand back full control to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine, of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” says a statement released on Wednesday, penned by the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.
According to the diplomats, the move is necessary to ensure the facility’s “safe and secure operations.” On top of that, the G7 once again called on Russia to “withdraw its troops from within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and respect Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty.”
The statement came only a day after Moscow summoned an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss “Ukrainian provocations” – a reference to a series of shelling attacks the power plant has come under in recent days. The meeting is expected to take place on Thursday.