Foreign monitors arrived at a nuclear plant held by Russian forces in Ukraine, even as shelling reported in the area threatened to put their high-stakes mission at risk.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Thursday that Ukrainian defense officials had warned his team of increased military activity in the so-called “gray zone” separating Kyiv’s territory from Russian forces controlling the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the continued fighting in the area, and there was no way to independently verify the claims. The warring sides each accused the other of trying to sabotage the mission to Europe’s largest atomic power station, though both have publicly said they want it to go ahead.
About a dozen agency inspectors left Wednesday morning from Ukraine’s capital in a convoy of light trucks for the Russian-occupied plant. Increasing attacks in the vicinity of Europe’s biggest atomic station have stoked widespread concern over a potential atomic disaster.
Ukrainian military intelligence said Russian forces were firing on the city of Enerhodar and the sprawling plant, near the mission’s route.
Russia confirmed military action in the area the IAEA mission was entering on Thursday, claiming its forces had destroyed what it asserts were two Ukrainian commando groups that had landed in Enerhodar and were seeking to take over the plant. The Defense Ministry didn’t provide evidence.
Officials from Ukraine’s Energoatom also reported on Thursday that a fifth reactor at the plant had to be shut down because of damaged transmission lines.
“The shelling of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the Russian occupying forces caused the emergency protection and the shut down,” the nuclear utility said in a statement. “The station’s Ukrainian staff is doing everything possible to eliminate damage to its infrastructure.”
Russian forces captured the plant at the beginning of the six-month war, although Ukrainian technicians are inside the facility and keeping the station operating. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the shelling which has become a near-daily occurrence.
The IAEA’s team will talk with Ukrainian staff at the plan and then immediately start “an assessment of the security and safety” situation, Grossi said, adding that they want to establish a long-term presence of inspectors at the facility in order to stabilize the situation and verify information.
It’s the first time in the IAEA’s 65-year history that monitors will cross an active battlefront in order to carry out an inspection. Investigators plan to be on site for at least a few days.
