A team from the Atomic Energy Agency is on its way to the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in Ukraine

“The IAEA mission is on its way to Zaporizhia. We must protect the security of Ukraine and the security of the largest station in Europe,” Rafael Grossi said in a tweet.

Fears of a radiological disaster

On Thursday, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency described the situation in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, as “rapidly deteriorating.”

He stressed that “any military action in the vicinity of Zaporizhia, which exposes the world to a nuclear danger, must stop immediately,” against the backdrop of mutual accusations between Russia and Ukraine over strikes near the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency was awaiting approval for its officials’ visit to the plant, which the agency’s director general said on Thursday should take place “very soon”.

More bombing

• The Russian Defense Ministry announced more bombings near the nuclear plant by Ukrainian forces during the past 24 hours.
• The latest bombing operation came just a day after Moscow and Kiev exchanged accusations of targeting the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which raised grave international concerns.
• Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said it had no new information about attacks on the plant.
• The RIA news agency has cited Russian authorities as saying that the Air Force shot down a Ukrainian drone that was intended to attack the nuclear waste storage facility at the plant.
• Two of the plant’s reactors were disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid last week due to the bombing.
• Local Ukrainian officials said that Russian shells hit towns across from the nuclear plant.

Danger hangs over Europe

• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russian forces have converted the station into a military base, putting the entire continent at risk.
• The US State Department said, in a statement Sunday, that Moscow does not want to recognize the serious radiological danger at the Zaporizhia plant and has blocked a draft agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons because it referred to such a danger.
• The United Nations and Kiev have called for military equipment and personnel to be withdrawn from the station to ensure it is not targeted.

in the field

In its daily report, the Ukrainian military said that Ukrainian forces repelled the latest Russian attempt to advance towards the town of Sloviansk on the Eastern Front.

The Ukrainian army added in an afternoon update that its forces also repelled Russian attempts to launch an attack from 3 sides, including an attack in the Bakhmut region and the coal-producing city of Avdiivka.

After Moscow had captured Severodonetsk and Lychansk weeks earlier, it focused its efforts on Bakhmut in its quest to establish control over the Donbass region.

Regional governors said the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the Donetsk region of the Donbass region were bombed by Russia overnight, but there were no reports of new injuries.

Reuters was unable to verify those reports.