The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Monday that he is targeting the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, which has been the target of attacks in recent weeks.
"The day has come, the IAEA mission is on its way to Zaporizhia. We must protect the security of Ukraine and Europe's largest plant," Rafael Grossi, director of the agency, wrote on Twitter.
He announced that the team will arrive "later this week."
In a photo that accompanies his message, the head of the IAEA appears along with a dozen people wearing helmets and vests with the emblem of the UN body.
Grossi had demanded for several months an IAEA visit to the site and warned of the "real risk of a nuclear catastrophe".
The Zaporizhia plant,
where six of Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors are located
, was seized by Russian forces in March, shortly after the invasion began on February 24, and is close to the front line in the south. Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of bombing the vicinity of the complex, which borders the city of Energodar on the Dnipro River, and of endangering the site.
The Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned on Saturday of the risks of radioactive leaks and fires due to the attacks. For his part, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, urged the UN body in charge of nuclear control to send a team as soon as possible.
Between Thursday and Friday, the plant and its 1,000-megawatt reactors were "totally disconnected" from the national grid due to damage to power lines, kyiv said.
They were later reconnected and restarted.
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