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The UN Atomic Energy Agency said a team of experts will visit Ukraine’s besieged Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in the “coming days” to assess the damage and try to avert a potential nuclear disaster. .
The factory in southern Ukraine has been hit by a barrage of artillery fire in recent days, with Moscow and Kyiv being traded responsibility for the attack.
The Russian military took over the factory in March, but allowed Ukrainian staff to continue operating it.
The US and dozens of other countries are asking Russia to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to inspect the plant.
“Planned missions will assess physical damage to ZNPP facilities, determine if main and backup safety and security systems are functioning, assess staff working conditions, and provide emergency safety on site. We will carry out conservation activities,” the IAEA said Sunday.
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Russia accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant over the weekend, but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Sunday that Russia had turned the plant into a “military base.”
“Russian army has to get out of the factory – they don’t do anything there!” Kleba tweeted on Sunday.
Despite the shelling, radiation levels were normal on Sunday and there was no evidence of a hydrogen leak, the IAEA said.
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Meanwhile, the State Department accused Russia of engaging in “cynical sabotage” by blocking a non-proliferation treaty that has been in the works for a month.
“Russia did so to block language that merely acknowledges the significant radiation risk of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” the State Department said on Sunday.