UN inspectors assess damage to Ukraine nuclear plant in high-stakes visit
(VOVWORLD) - United Nations nuclear experts who crossed into Russian-held territory in Ukraine to assess the safety of Europe's biggest atomic energy plant were seeking on Friday to assess physical damage to the facility, where both sides warn of possible disaster.
 IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks with journalists after he and a part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission came back from a Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, at a Ukrainian checkpoint in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 1, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Anna Voitenko) |
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team braved intense shelling to reach the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday. Russia and Ukraine say they fear a Chernobyl-like catastrophe due to shelling they blame on each other.
Russia seized the plant early in the now more than six-month-old conflict, and areas to the south are now the focus of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive. Kyiv accuses Moscow of using the facility to shield its forces, a charge Moscow denies while rejecting calls to withdraw troops.