Kyiv-
The United Nations nuclear watchdog injected a glimmer of hope into the standoff over the beleaguered Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant on Monday, announcing that its mission of top experts “is now on its way” to the facility, which has seen relentless bombardment as a focal point. in the Ukrainian war.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, has for months sought access to the Zaporizhzhia plant, the largest in Europe, which has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the six month war.
His announcement came hours after Russia and Ukraine traded claims of rocket and artillery attacks on or near the plant on Sunday, intensifying fears that the clashes could cause a massive radiation leak. Under the barrage of bombing last week, the facility has already been temporarily taken offline.
“The day has arrived,” Grossi wrote on Twitteradding that the “IAEA Support and Assistance Mission based in Vienna…is already on its way.”
“We must protect the security of the largest nuclear facility in #Ukraine and Europe,” he wrote. “Proud to lead this mission that will be at #ZNPP later this week.” Grossi, who did not provide a more precise timeline or elaborate, posted a photo of himself with 13 other experts.
Ukraine has alleged that Russia is essentially holding the plant hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks around it, while Moscow accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing at the facility. The Zaporizhzhia plant has six reactors.
The IAEA tweeted that the mission will assess physical damage to the facility, “determine the functionality of safety and security systems” and assess the conditions of personnel, among other things.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency has painted an ominous picture of the threat by issuing a map forecasting where radiation could spread from the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russian forces have controlled since shortly after the war began. And on Monday, he accused Russian forces of continuing to shell the wider area.
Energoatom said in a statement that in the past 24 hours, Russian troops attacked the nearby town of Enerhodar and the power plant, injuring 10 people, four of whom worked at the plant.
Attacks were also reported over the weekend both in Russian-controlled territory adjacent to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River and along the Ukrainian-controlled right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (six miles). of the installation.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces attacked the plant twice in the last day and that shells landed near buildings that store reactor fuel and radioactive waste.
“One shell fell in the area of the sixth power unit and the other five in front of the pumping station of the sixth unit, which provides cooling for this reactor,” Konashenkov said, adding that radiation levels were normal. The allegations could not be independently verified.
The IAEA reported on Sunday that radiation levels were normal, that two of the six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant were operational, and that while a full assessment had not yet been carried out, recent fighting damaged a water pipeline that it was already repaired.
But in a war now in its seventh month, the one piece of good news on Monday could hardly break the general pessimism that darkens everything from frontline villages to global food supplies to the global economy.