Fighting goes on near Ukraine nuclear plant; IAEA on site
Source: AP
By YESICA FISCH
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Heavy fighting continued Friday near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in a Russian-controlled area of eastern Ukraine, a day after experts from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency voiced concerns about structural damage to the sprawling Zaporizhzhia site.
Britain’s Defense Ministry says shelling continued in the district where the Zaporizhzhia power plant sits. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Russian shelling damaged houses, gas pipelines and other infrastructure in the Nikopol region on the other bank of the Dnieper River.
The team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, braving gunfire and artillery blasts along their route, crossed the frontlines to reach the Zaporizhzhia plant on Thursday in a mission to help safeguard the plant against catastrophe. Fighting Thursday prompted the shutdown of one reactor — underscoring the urgency of their task.
The 14-member delegation arrived in a convoy of SUVs and vans after months of negotiations to enable the experts to pass through the front lines. Speaking to reporters after leaving colleagues inside, IAEA director Rafael Grossi, said the agency was “not moving” from the plant from now on, and vowed Thursday a “continued presence” of agency experts.
In this handout photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday Sept. 2, 2022, munitions seen at the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) members inspect the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. A U.N. inspection team has arrived at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a mission to safeguard it from catastrophe. It reached the site Thursday amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces that prompted the shutdown of one reactor and underscored the urgency and the danger of the task. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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