Erdogan tells Putin that Turkey can mediate in the Ukraine nuclear plant standoff.

On September 3, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate in the standoff over a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in war-torn Ukraine, raising fears of an atomic disaster.

In recent weeks, there has been growing concern about shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine said on September 2 that it bombed a Russian base near Energodar, destroying three artillery systems and an ammunition depot.

According to the Turkish presidency, Mr. Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “that Turkey can play a facilitator role in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as they did in the grain deal.”

Following Russia’s invasion in late February, Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, was forced to halt almost all deliveries, raising fears of a global food crisis.

Grain exports to Black Sea ports resumed after Kyiv and Moscow signed a deal in July with the UN and Turkey acting as guarantors.

Mr. Erdogan also spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 3 to offer his mediation.

When he visited Lviv last month for talks with Ukraine’s president, he warned of the dangers of a nuclear disaster.

The Turkish president stated that he wished to avoid “another Chernobyl,” referring to the world’s worst nuclear accident, which occurred in another part of Ukraine in 1986 when it was still a part of the Soviet Union.

The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a 14-member team to Zaporizhzhia this week, with UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi saying the site had been damaged in the fighting.