Questions, tensions swirl as U.N. mission heads to Ukraine nuclear plant

KYIV, Aug 31 (Reuters) – U.N. nuclear inspectors set off in convoy for Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Wednesday after weeks of shelling nearby sparked fears of a Chornobyl-style radiation disaster, with tensions rising between Kyiv and Moscow over the visit.

A Reuters reporter following the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, said it was likely the inspectors would overnight in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia before visiting the plant, which is on territory controlled by Russia, on Thursday.

Russian-installed officials in the area suggested the visit might last only one day, while IAEA and Ukrainian officials suggested it would last longer.

“We are now finally moving after six months of strenuous efforts,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told reporters before the convoy set off, adding that the mission planned to spend “a few days” at the site.

“We have a very important task there to perform – to assess the real situation there, to help stabilise the situation as much as we can. We are going to a war zone, we are going to occupied territory and this requires explicit guarantees, not only from the Russian Federation but also from Ukraine. We have been able to secure that,” said Grossi.

Russia captured the plant, Europe’s largest, in early March as part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, something Kyiv and the West have described as an unprovoked invasion designed to grab land and erase Ukrainian identity.

A Russian military force has been at the plant ever since, as has most of the Ukrainian workforce who have toiled to keep the facility, which traditionally supplied Ukraine with 20 percent of its electricity needs, running.

For weeks now, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of endangering the plant’s safety with artillery or drone strikes.

Kyiv says Russia has been using the plant as a shield to strike towns and cities, knowing it will be hard for Ukraine to return fire. It has also accused Russian forces of shelling the plant.

“The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and in Enerhodar and surrounding areas remains extremely dangerous,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday. “The risk of a radiation disaster due to Russian actions does not decrease for an hour.”

The Russian defence ministry has said that radiation levels at the plant are normal.

Moscow has denied Ukrainian assertions of reckless behaviour, questioning why it would shell a facility where its own troops are garrisoned as what it describes as a security detail.

Moscow has in turn accused the Ukrainians of shelling the plant to try to generate international outrage that Kyiv hopes will result in a demilitarised zone. Russia has said it has no intention of withdrawing its forces for now.

Kyiv and Moscow both claimed battlefield successes on Wednesday as Ukraine mounted a counter-offensive to…