KYIV, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The IAEA’s monitoring mission to the under-fire Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant may turn out to be “shorter than planned,” a Ukrainian source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Thursday.
“The mission may turn out to be shorter than was planned,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
The IAEA convoy’s progress to the plant was delayed on Thursday by fresh shelling on its territory, with Kyiv and Moscow accusing each other of being responsible.
Meanwhile, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived on Thursday at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
A Reuters reporter saw the IAEA team arrive at the plant in a large convoy with a heavy presence of Russian soldiers nearby.
The delegation had been delayed after reports of fighting earlier on Thursday around Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, which Russian has controlled since March.
In Other Developments:
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
* One of two operational reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant complex has been shut down due to Russian shelling, operator Energoatom said.
* Russia’s Defence Ministry said a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had tried to seize the plant and Russian forces were using helicopters to destroy the group.
* A Reuters reporter near the plant in Russian-controlled Enerhodar on the Dnipro river said a residential building was struck by shelling, forcing people to take cover in a basement. Soldiers ran about and helicopters flew overhead. It was not possible to establish who had fired.
* Yevgeny Balitsky, Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia oblast governor, said at least three people had been killed and five wounded in Ukrainian shelling of Enerhodar, with three kindergartens and the House of Culture destroyed.
* The Kremlin said it was concerned about a possible “provocation” from Ukraine at the Zaporizhzia plant.
* Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Russia was targeting Enerhodar in order to blame Ukraine.
* In the past 24 hours, five civilians in the Donetsk region were killed and 12 were wounded, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram messaging app.
* Ukraine’s operational command South said its forces had destroyed a pontoon bridge near the town of Daryivky in the Kherson region, which had been used by the Russian troops to bring in equipment and ammunition.
* Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the south had failed, with their forces suffering heavy losses of equipment and men.
* Authorities in the southern Russian region of Kursk said Ukrainian forces had shelled the village of Gordeevka, near the Ukrainian border, but that there were no casualties or damage.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.
QUOTE
“The scenario could be a massive incident,” head of the International Committee of the Red Cross Robert Mardini said, when asked about contingency planning for an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
“There is very little anyone can do to mitigate the dire consequences of this.”
