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As IAEA chief Grossi visits Zaporozhye NPP, Ukraine makes break in shelling

The situation is also calm at the Russian checkpoint near Vasilievka, which the IAEA delegation crossed to enter Russian territory

ENERGODAR /Zaporozhye Region/, September 4. /TASS/. As an International Atomic Energy Agency delegation led by Director General Raphael Grossi is visiting the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian forces cut down of bombardments of the plant and the nearby town of Energodar, according to a TASS reporter at the scene.

There is no sound of flying Ukrainian drones or artillery fire.

The situation is also calm at the Russian checkpoint near Vasilievka, which the IAEA delegation crossed to enter Russian territory.

Earlier on Wednesday, the plant's communications director, Yevgenia Yashina, told TASS that the situation at the Zaporozhye NPP and in Energodar was tense ahead of the IAEA chief’s arrival as the intensity of Ukrainian shelling was high.

On September 3, Yashina told TASS that the Zaporozhye NPP’s staff expected Grossi to come this week and was ready to show him all of the plant’s facilities that he would be willing to see, as long as that complied with current safety requirements.

The IAEA chief set out on a trip on Monday evening to visit the power plant. He made a post about it on X, saying the purpose of the visit is to help prevent a nuclear accident.

Before visiting the ZNPP, Grossi met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev, Reuters reported. They discussed, among other things, the situation at the Kursk nuclear power plant. Grossi said the situation at ZNPP is very fragile, but declined to compare the state of affairs at the two facilities. Grossi is visiting the Zaporozhye NPP for the fifth time since September 2022, when the IAEA established a permanent presence there.