UN nuclear agency team arrives at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

A team from the UN nuclear agency has arrived at the site of Europersquos largest nuclear plant to inspect security conditions that forced the shutdown of one reactor Ukrainersquos nuclear energy operator said ThursdayEnergoatom said the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency had arrived at the Zaporizhzhia plant that has been in the thick of recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces more than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade UkraineThe company said earlier Thursday that Russian mortar shelling led to the shutdown of one of its reactors by its emergency protection system Shelling also damaged a backup power supply line used for inhouse needs and one of the plantrsquos reactors that wasnrsquot operating was switched to diesel generators the company saidRafael Grossi director IAEAThe IAEA spokesperson said around 1200 local time 0900 GMT that the mission had been delayed on the Ukrainiancontrolled side for three hoursA group of inspectors from the IAEA led by its director Rafael Grossi set off for the power plant ldquoThere has been increased military activity including this morning until very recentlyrdquo Grossi said adding that after being briefed by the Ukrainian military he decided to get moving despite the inherent risks ldquoBut weighing the pros and cons and having come so far we are not stoppingrdquoHe noted that the risks are ldquovery very highrdquo in the socalled grey zone between Ukrainian and Russian positions but ldquowe consider that we have the minimum conditions to moverdquoThe Ukrainian presidentrsquos chief of staff accused Russia of seeking to ldquowreckrdquo the IAEArsquos inspection visit to the plant saying Russia shelled the plant again on Thursday ldquoThe Russians have shelled the town of Enerhodar and the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantrdquo Yermak wrote on Telegram accusing Russia of acting like a ldquoterrorist staterdquoldquoIt is Russia that is responsible for everything happening at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and in Enerhodarrdquo Yermak wrote on Thursday adding ldquoThey want to wreck the IAEA missionrsquos visitrdquo Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that Russia was conducting ldquodemonstrative strikesrdquo in Enerhodar in order to blame Ukraine for them ldquoRussia conducts demonstrative strikes on Enerhodar along the IAEA missionrsquos official route in order to blame Ukraine for thisrdquo Podolyak wrote adding that this was a ldquodemonstration of Russiarsquos real lsquointerestrsquo in the inspectionrdquoThe mission by IAEA aims to assess risks from ongoing hostilities in the area Russiarsquos defence ministry and a local Moscowbacked official accused Ukraine of an attempt to seize the plant after it said up to 60 Ukrainian soldiers crossed the frontline Dnipro river in boats early on Thursday The ministry said that ldquomeasures had been takenrdquo to destroy the Ukrainian troops including use of military aviationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever