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Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
arrived at Europe's largest nuclear power plant to review the
situation there, an IAEA spokesperson said.
"At the plant now," the spokesperson said.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the
site of the power station over the last year. Grossi has been
pushing for a safety agreement between Ukraine and Russia to protect
the facility.
A Reuters reporter at the Russian-held plant saw a motorcade
transporting the IAEA expert mission arriving at the facility,
escorted by the Russian military.
Grossi told Reuters in an interview in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro
on Tuesday that the situation at the plant remained "very dangerous"
and "very unstable", noting that military activity in the region had
increased in recent weeks.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February last year, has been
pressing a winter offensive in the east, while Ukraine is expected
to launch a counteroffensive using Western-supplied battle tanks and
fighting vehicles.
The sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was a prized part of
Ukraine's energy network and accounted for around 20% of national
power generation before the Russian invasion.
It has not produced any electricity since September, when the last
of its six reactors was taken offline.
Ukraine's Energoatom nuclear agency said Grossi would assess how the
situation had changed at the plant, speak to workers and also act as
a "guarantor" for the rotation of a group of IAEA monitors at the
facility.
The IAEA has had monitors stationed at the plant since September,
when Grossi travelled to the facility as fears were mounting of the
possibility for a nuclear accident.
Grossi, who met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, says that
his attempt to broker a deal to protect the nuclear plant was still
alive, and that he was adjusting the proposals to seek a
breakthrough.
(Writing by Tom Balmforth, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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