The U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday passed a resolution demanding that Russia end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
The resolution is the second on Russia's invasion of Ukraine passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's board, and their content is very similar, though the first in March preceded Russian forces taking control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.
Both resolutions were proposed by Canada and Poland on behalf of Ukraine, which is not on the board, the IAEA's top policy-making body that meets more than once a year.
The text, which says the board calls on Russia to "immediately cease all actions against, and at, the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine", was passed with 26 votes in favour, two against and seven abstentions, diplomats at the closed-door meeting said.
The text was later posted on the IAEA's website.
Russia and China were the countries that voted against while Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Burundi, Vietnam, India and Pakistan abstained, the diplomats said.
The board "deplores the Russian Federation's persistent violent actions against nuclear facilities in Ukraine, including forcefully seizing of control of nuclear facilities," the resolution's text reads.
