The pro-Russian authorities of Zaporozhye announced the arrival of the IAEA mission to areas controlled by Russian forces in the Zaporozhye region, emphasizing that “there are no obstacles for the arrival of a group of IAEA inspectors at the Zaporozhye NPP.”

The Russian and Ukrainian authorities have exchanged accusations of bombing the road leading to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant since the morning, when the IAEA mission was heading to the plant to inspect it and assess the material damage to its facilities.

Al Jazeera reported earlier today that “the agency’s delegation stopped their journey to the nuclear plant because of the bombing.”

In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that “Ukrainian shells fell 400 meters from the first power unit of the Zaporizhzhya NPP,” indicating that “Ukrainian shelling has been going on since morning along the road along which the IAEA delegation was traveling to the Zaporozhye plant.”

On the other hand, the head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stressed that “Russian forces have set their sights on the path that the IAEA delegation took in Energodar to blame us.”

The Ukrainian Nuclear Energy Agency also reported “the activation of the emergency protection regime and the shutdown of power unit No. 5 in Zaporozhye due to Russian bombing.”

The agency’s director general Rafael Grossi said yesterday that the agency’s inspection team was on its way to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which has been bombed in recent weeks.

“We are finally moving after an effort that lasted several months. The International Atomic Energy Agency is moving inside the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe,” Grossi told reporters in Kyiv before leaving.