The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog was holding talks with senior officials Tuesday in Ukraine over safety concerns for Europe's largest nuclear power plant , where attacks were recently reported nearby.
Rafael Mariano Grossi , the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was making his 10th visit since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.
Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhia to "help prevent a nuclear accident."
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which came under Russian control in the wake of its 2022 full-scale invasion, saw artillery shelling in the area the previous day that damaged the facility's power access, according to its operator Energoatom, which blamed Russia for the attacks.
"Russian shelling damaged one of the two external overhead lines through which - the Zaporizhzhya NPP receives power from the Ukrainian power system," the operator said in a post on the Telegram messaging and social network. "In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will arise," it said, adding that technicians couldn't access the site of the damage because of the "real threat of repeated shelling."
