IAEA team heading to Ukraine to inspect Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid intense shelling

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team is heading to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for inspection as it is rocked by the constant shelling by the Russian forces and the retaliatory strikes by the Ukrainian military. The Russian-controlled plant came under heavy firing on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the UN nuclear watchdog. IAEA told the warring sides that they risked a major disaster as they fought a heavy battle near Europe's largest nuclear power plant. IAEA asserted that the troops are "playing with fire." Soldiers on both Moscow's and Kyiv's sides traded blame against each other, saying that the plant was attacked from the opposite side. 

IAEA asks warring sides to establish nuclear safety and security zone

A dozen of powerful blasts shook the Zaporizhzhia plant on Sunday as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts based on the site reported that constant shelling had shaken the area on Saturday night and Sunday. The flares from the explosions were seen from their windows. "Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately... As I have said many times before, you're playing with fire!" the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement. The blast caused massive damages to the building, systems and equipment, but “none so far critical for nuclear safety” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff said. On its official Twitter handle, IAEA made appeals for both Ukraine and Russia to implement a nuclear safety and security zone around the plant as soon as possible to avoid any major disaster or mishap. 

Russian officials, meanwhile, claimed that they sought the interference of the IAEA, accusing the Ukrainian forces of launching the recent blasts. “They are shelling not only yesterday but also today, they are shelling even now,” an adviser to the head of Russia’s nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom, Renat Karchaa, told the Russian state agency Tass. "They interpret their mandate as having no limits. This is not so," Karchaa noted. Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency, Energoatom, said that Russian forces shelled the facility on Telegram. It stated that the occupying troops of Russia “targeted and disabled exactly the infrastructure that was necessary for the restart of 5th and 6th power units." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been urging the NATO member nations to guarantee safety of Ukraine's nuclear plants from Russian “sabotage."