UN team to inspect Ukrainian nuclear plant as shells land nearby

ZAPORIZHZHIA: UN nuclear experts are due to visit the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s south on Thursday to assess any damage, as both sides in the conflict reported new shelling in the nearby town of Enerhodar.

Conditions at the plant, Europe’s largest, have been unravelling for weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame for nearby shelling and fuelling fears of a radiation disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia, 55 km (34 miles) from the plant, on Wednesday and Ukraine’s defence ministry said it was scheduled to visit the facility on Thursday.

“It’s a mission that seeks to prevent a nuclear accident,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Zaporizhzhia.

Russian-installed officials have suggested that the team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog would have only a day to inspect the plant, while the mission is preparing for longer.

“If we are able to establish a permanent presence, or a continued presence, then it’s going to be prolonged. But this first segment is going to take a few days,” Grossi said.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces reported early on Thursday fighting near the plant and further afield along front lines in the east and south.

Both sides have claimed battlefield successes amid a fresh Ukrainian push to recapture territory in the south.

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“It is a very slow process, because we value people,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, referring to the Ukrainian offensive.

“There will be no quick success.”

Russia captured large tracts of southern Ukraine close to the Black Sea coast in the early weeks of the over six-month-old war, including in the Kherson region, north of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Elsewhere, Ukraine repelled Russian attacks in the direction of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, towns north of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, its armed forces’ general staff said.

Pro-Russian troops have focused on Bakhmut in their push to extend control over the Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland in its east, the general staff added on Wednesday.

Russia has denied reports of Ukrainian progress and said its troops had routed Ukrainian forces.