Zaporizhzhia nuclear deal compromise sought as Zelenskyy invites China's Xi to Ukraine

The head of the United Nations atomic energy watchdog returned Wednesday to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhianuclear power plant, reportedly saying he is working on a plan to protect Europe's largest nuclear power facility "more locally" amid the war in the surrounding area.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)director general Rafael Mariano Grossi crossed the war's front lines for a second time to reach the plant, which is located in a partially Russian-occupied part of Ukraine where combat has intensified.

The IAEA, which is based in Austria, has a rotating team permanently based at the plant. Grossi told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday he feels it is his duty to ramp up talks between Kyiv and Moscow aimed at safeguarding the facility and avoiding a a catastrophic accident. He said a deal was "close."

Grossi met Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he would "most probably" head to Moscow in the coming days.

However, Zelenskyy said in a separate interview with the AP that he was less optimistic a deal was near.

"I don't feel it today," he said.

Seeking 'realistic measures' at nuclear plant

Ukraine insists all Russian forces must leave the facility.

Grossi said Wednesday he was working on "realistic measures" he believed would be acceptable to both sides, according to Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti.

The Kremlin's forces took over the six-reactor plant after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Zelenskyy opposes any proposal that would legitimize Russia's control over the facility.

Grossi repeatedly has urged Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow a protection zone around the plant, which is very near the front line of the war.

The power station's reactors are shut down and the plant has received the electricity it needs to run the cooling systems to prevent a reactor meltdown through one remaining functioning power line.

Interruptions to the outside electricity supply due to the fighting required plant personnel to switch to emergency diesel generators six times during the 13-month war.

China noncommittal after invitation

Meanwhile, in the extensive Associated Press interview, Zelenskyy extended an invitation to Ukraine to one notable and strategically important leader who has not made the journey Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is aligned with Russia.

The Ukrainian leader spoke to the AP aboard a train shuttling him across Ukraine, to cities near some of the fiercest fighting and others where his country's forces have successfully repelled Russia's invasion.

Zelenskyy has extended invitations to Xi before in recent months, but this explicit call to visit comes days after the Chinese leader visited Putin in Russia last week.

Xi visited Putin in Russia last week, raising the prospect that Beijing might be ready to provide Moscow with the weapons and ammunition it needs to refill its depleted stockpile. But Xi's trip ended without any such announcement.

The Ukrainian leader said he hasn't communicated with Xi for the duration of the conflict.

"We are ready to see him here," Zelenskyy said. "I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn't have."

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was asked whether Xi would accept an invitation from Zelenskyy or whether one had been officially extended. She told reporters she had no information to give. She did say that Beijing maintains "communication with all parties concerned, including Ukraine."

WATCH | China is on the right side of history with Ukraine, Xi says:

Xi Jinping portrays himself as peacemaker as Moscow talks wrap up

1 year ago

Duration 2:26

Chinese President Xi Jinping said hes committed to the peace proposal for the war in Ukraine as talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up in Moscow. But experts say Chinas proposal may have more to do with pushing back against the U.S.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, asked whether a meeting between Xi and Zelenskyy would be useful to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, said Russian authorities "highly appreciate" China's balanced position on the issue and "have no right to come up with any advice" on whether the two should meet.

"The Chinese leader himself decides the appropriateness of certain contacts,"Peskov said on Wednesdayduring his daily conference call with reporters.

Bakhmut needed for country's spirits: Zelenskyy

In the war's second year, Zelenskyy finds himself focused on keeping motivation high in both his military and the general Ukrainian population particularly the millions who have fled abroad and those living in relative comfort and security far from the front lines.

Zelenskyy recently made a visit near Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked for months in a grinding and bloody battle. While some Western military analysts have suggested that the city is not of significant strategic importance, Zelenskyy warned that a loss anywhere at this stage in the war could put Ukraine's hard-fought momentum at risk.

"We can't lose the steps because the war is a pie pieces of victories. Small victories, small steps," he said.

WATCH |Scenes of devastation in Bakhmut:

Bakhmut, Ukraine lies in ruins after Russian assault

1 year ago

Duration 0:43

The Ukrainian military says the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut has 'stabilized' after a ferocious attack by Russia to recapture it. But the fighting has made it a wasteland.

Zelenskyy's comments were an acknowledgement that losing the seven month-long battle for Bakhmut the longest of the war thus far would be more of a costly political defeat than a tactical one.

He predicted that the pressure from a defeat in Bakhmut would come quickly both from the international community and within his own country.

"Our society will feel tired," he said. "Our society will push me to have compromise with them."

The international community has largely rallied around Ukraine following Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion, and Zelenskyy said American support was critical.

"The United States really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win," he said.

Putin recently announced that he would be deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which neighbours Russia and pushes the Kremlin's nuclear stockpile closer to NATO territory.

Zelenskyy suggested Putin's move was intended to distract from the lack of guarantees he received from China.

"What does it mean? It means that the visit was not good for Russia," Zelenskyy said.