Russian sources have claimed that Ukraine is allegedly using UN personnel as ‘hostages’ to protect its energy infrastructure. They attribute this to an article in The New York Times (NYT), citing a letter from Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Energy to the UN, requesting the deployment of permanent monitoring groups at critical substations to prevent provocations by Russia.  

However, the fact-checking project VoxCheck reports that propagandists have distorted the content of the NYT article titled How Will Ukraine Keep the Lights On This Winter? While the article does mention the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee's appeal to the UN to station permanent monitoring groups at substations crucial for nuclear power plants, the claim that Ukraine intends to use UN personnel as ‘hostages’ is baseless and fabricated.  

The NYT article cites Jan Vande Putte, a nuclear expert at Greenpeace, who noted that Russia may be hesitant to target sites monitored by UN staff, given its dependence on exporting nuclear technology, which requires International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approval. The Ukrainian Parliament has not publicly confirmed whether such an appeal to the UN was made, and nowhere in the NYT article is there any suggestion that Ukraine intends to use UN staff as human shields.  

The IAEA's mission explicitly includes ensuring that peaceful nuclear facilities and materials are not used for military purposes, including monitoring nuclear sites in conflict zones. Consequently, Ukraine's request for UN personnel to monitor nuclear power plants and other critical infrastructure falls within the agency’s mandate and cannot be equated to using them as hostages. Furthermore, the NYT article does not criticize Ukraine’s request.  

The IAEA has already conducted periodic monitoring missions at substations vital to Ukraine's nuclear power plants. Since September 2022, the agency has maintained a permanent monitoring group at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. As of January 2023, permanent IAEA missions have also been stationed at the Chornobyl, Rivne, South Ukraine, and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants.  

Previously, we debunked a fake claim alleging that the IAEA accused Ukraine of attacking one of the agency’s vehicles.