IAEA delegation likely to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine

Moscow [Russia], August 19 (ANI): A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency is likely to visit Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in early September.
In an online briefing on Friday, the Russian representative in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov said, "It's too early to say anything about the details, these are all extremely sensitive issues, we are discussing and will continue to discuss the modalities of the mission, the route, the number of people who will be involved in this, how long they will stay at the station, for what tasks they are there sent."
"When the mission can take place -- forecasts do not always come true, but, according to my feelings, we can quite realistically talk about the first days of September, unless some extraneous factors that are not related to the goals arise again," Ulyanov said as quoted by CNN.
Ulyanov said that the organization of the mission is currently being discussed with the IAEA secretariat.
The Russian and Ukrainian sides are at odds over the arrangements for such a visit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday an IAEA mission would have to travel only through territory not occupied by Russia.
Over the status of the plant, Ulyanov said, "So far, there are no serious consequences, but, as the IAEA director general rightly said at an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council a week ago, at any moment this could end badly," Ulyanov said.
He said the situation at the plant was "extremely alarming. What the Ukrainian military is doing when shelling this nuclear facility is completely unacceptable," he said.
Ukraine has denied shelling the area and blamed Russia for doing so as a provocation. Some facilities at the plant have been damaged, according to CNN.
"Our air defence systems in the region have been strengthened, we are taking all measures to ensure the safety of the station," Ryabkov said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Meanwhile, earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a demilitarization of the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant stating that any damage to the largest nuclear power station in Europe would be "suicide."
"In close contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN Secretariat has assessed that we have in Ukraine the logistics and security capabilities to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from Kyiv, provided both Russia and Ukraine agree. Military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant. Further deployment of forces or equipment to the site must be avoided. The area needs to be demilitarized," the UN Chief said in a statement after the trilateral meeting in Ukraine.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), located in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region has become a regular site for shelling in Ukraine and Moscow and Kyiv have each accused the other of striking the compound on Thursday and over the weekend. (ANI)