MELITOPOL, June 16. /TASS/. The armed forces of Ukraine violated a truce and started shooting when a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), led by Director-General Rafael Grossi, was returning to the Ukraine-controlled territory on Thursday, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company told TASS.
"Ukraine violated the truce. It all began when the IAEA mission led by Grossi approached the border. It was not just some gunfire, it was a full-scale skirmish, so they had to wait it out," Renat Karchaa said.
According to the official, Grossi has already arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporozhye. No injuries were reported in his convoy.
Karchaa added that Ukraine had offered guarantees of a ceasefire until 6:00 p.m. Moscow time, but the shootout erupted before this period expired.
"Ukraine has once again demonstrated its totally irresponsible behavior," the Rosenergoatom official said.
It was not the first incident of this kind. On March 3, Karchaa said that Ukrainian troops had deliberately opened fire on the Russian security team meeting IAEA experts who were on their way through the gray zone in the Zaporozhye Region to the Zaporozhye NPP for rotation. He condemned it as a "blatant provocation" that exposed the Kiev government’s total lack of control over forces stationed along this stretch of the line of contact.