The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said that the mission of the agency's delegation, which arrived on Wednesday at the Zaporozhye plant in southern Ukraine, is technical and seeks to prevent a nuclear accident, while a German military official warned against the West's underestimation of Russia's military power.

Grossi - who heads the agency's delegation - said that ending the armed threats in the vicinity of the Zaporozhye station requires political will, adding that the agency is trying to establish a permanent presence at the station.

Russia has controlled the largest nuclear plant in Ukraine and Europe since the early days of the war launched by Russia against its neighbor, which has continued since February 24.

Damage preview

The mission of the agency's delegation will focus on examining the damages in the facilities, the effectiveness of security and safety, and evaluating the capacity of its workers in accordance with international standards.

The mission's visit to the station comes after warnings of a nuclear leak escalated following the bombing of the station in recent days, and Ukraine and Russia exchanged accusations about it.

The plant includes 6 nuclear reactors, provides about 20% of the total electricity in Ukraine, and has a production capacity of about 5,700 megawatts per hour.

While Kyiv stressed the importance of the visit of the IAEA delegation to return the station to its control by the end of the year, Moscow confirmed its readiness to discuss the agency's proposal for a permanent mission to the nuclear station, and that it is awaiting the results of the visit.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the visit of the IAEA team to the Zaporozhye station will reveal the truth about what she described as the Ukrainian provocations.

Accusations

In the same context, the Russian administration in the city of Energodar in southern Ukraine, which includes the Zaporozhye station, said that the Ukrainian shelling targeted the city before the arrival of the agency's delegation.

On the other hand, the head of the military administration in the city of Nikopol, opposite the nuclear plant, accused Russia of carrying out the bombing, and that it was trying to suggest to the International Atomic Energy Agency mission that the source of the bombing was Ukrainian.

Meanwhile, the German Defense Ministry's Inspector General, General Eberhard Zorn, warned the West not to underestimate Moscow's military might, saying that Russia had the ability to open another front if it chose to do so.

General Tzorn: Russia has the ability to open another front thanks to its air and sea power (Reuters)

"Perhaps the bulk of the Russian ground forces are now mortgaged in Ukraine, but nevertheless we should not underestimate the ability of the Russian ground forces to open another battlefront," Zorn said in an interview with Reuters.

the course of the war

On the course of the Ukraine war, the Inspector General of the German Defense Ministry said that the dynamic of Russia's offensive has slowed down, but Moscow is still moving forward steadily.

"They are continuing their advance with the support of intense artillery fire regardless of the casualties among Ukrainian civilians," he added, noting that Russia's ammunition is not about to run out any time soon.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said today, Wednesday, that Sweden has provided Ukraine with a new defense aid package that contains artillery shells, while the Coordinator of Strategic Communications in the US National Security Council John Kirby said that his country will announce in the coming days new military aid to Ukraine.