Ukraine on edge as artillery strikes go on near N-plant

IAEA: Talks On For Team Visit To Facility In Next Few Days

Kyiv: Artillery barrages along a section of the front line near an imperiled nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine struck towns, ammunition dumps and a Russian military base in intense fighting overnight, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. Reports of fighting all along the southern front suggested that neither side was pausing hostilities, even amid complex negotiations to allow for a team of scientists from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has been repeatedly damaged by recent shelling. The plant is controlled by the Russian military but operated by Ukrainian engineers.

The IAEA said on Sunday that talks were ongoing with the goal of sending a team to the plant “in the next few days,” noting that the latest shelling “once again underlined the risk of a potential nuclear accident”. The team would assess physical damage to the plant, determine whether the main and backup safety and security systems were functional and evaluate the staff’s working conditions, the IAEA said in a statement.