VIENNA, April 28. /TASS/. Combat operations continue near the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, a landmine exploded in vicinity, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said in a statement posted on the agency’s website on Friday.

"International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts present at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) were again forced to shelter this week after missile attack warnings, with the sound of continued shelling in the distance as military activity continues in the region. In addition, one landmine exploded near the site," he said.

"The increased military presence and activity in the region again underlines the importance and urgency of agreeing on the protection of the plant," Grossi stressed.

Located in the city of Energodar, Europe’s largest Zaporozhye NPP has six power units with an aggregate capacity of 6 GW. Russian forces took control of the facility in February 2022. Since then, Ukrainian troops have been periodically shelled both Energodar’s residential quarters and the plant’s territory.

Grossi visited the Zaporozhye NPP on March 29. He inspected plant facilities that had been damaged in shelling attacks by Ukrainian troops. In particular, he could see the site between the coolant reservoirs at the fourth power unit that had been hit by a Ukrainian rocket. It was Grossi’s second visit to the ZNPP in the past six months (his first visit took place on September 1, 2022).

On April 5, the IAEA chief visited Russia’s Kaliningrad where he met with high-ranking Russian government officials to discuss issues of the plant’s security.