Ukrainian troops open fire at Zaporozhye NPP: Enerhodar Authorities

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The Ukrainian military on Friday targeted the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), and four shells hit the area where radioactive isotopes are stored, Enerhodar’s administration told Sputnik, adding that the radiation level did not exceed the norm. 
 
"Ukrainian ‘punishers’ continue the global nuclear terror, striking at the territory of a nuclear power plant. So, today there were four hits on the Zaporozhye NPP in the area of ​​a storage of radioactive isotopes," a spokesperson of Enerhodar’s administration indicated, adding that the "radiation level is normal."

IAEA may prop up permanent post at Zaporozhye NPP: Chief

Earlier, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that the agency needs to determine the parameters of its mission to the Zaparozhye NPP.

Grossi underlined that his agency may establish a permanent presence at the NPP, which has been the center of contention with Russia.

"This is a difficult mission ... We need to secure a route, we need to do it in coordination with [Russia and Ukraine]," the IAEA chief explained.

The IAEA said Friday it was actively consulting with all parties on sending a mission to the Zaporozhye NPP plant as soon as possible.

"We also need to rely on the support of the UN and its armored vehicles to take us to the place ... We need to clearly define the parameters of the mission and, possibly, establish a permanent presence of the agency on the spot," Grossi told the RFI radio broadcaster in an interview.

The agency underlined that taking the seriousness of the situation into perspective, Grossi had reiterated the need to send a mission to carry out basic measures to ensure physical and nuclear security and safeguards at the facility. 

France, IAEA receive security guarantees for NPP mission: Macron

In the same context, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that France and the IAEA have received security guarantees from Russia and Ukraine to conduct a mission to the Zaporozhye NPP.

"Yesterday, we met with the director general of the IAEA [Rafael Grossi], also the other day I spoke with [Ukrainian and Russian] presidents [Volodymyr] Zelensky and [Vladimir] Putin... We received security guarantees from the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Now there [at the NPP] an IAEA mission can be deployed, an independent mission that will be protected," Macron told reporters.

Kiev interrupts last transmission line from ZNPP

On Friday, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye regional administration, told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster on Friday that Kiev has interrupted the last transmission line of the Zaporozhye NPP to Ukraine, and it is impossible to supply electricity there.

What you need to know

Russian forces have had complete control over the Zaporozhye NPP since March, but drone attacks by Ukrainian forces have regularly targeted the facility, leading Russia to request help from the IAEA to address security issues.

Two weeks ago, Russia accused the office of the United Nations Secretary-General of obstructing the work of IAEA experts and preventing them from visiting the NPP in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow had underlined several times that a trip by an IAEA delegation to the NPP through Kiev and then across the contact line will be very dangerous.

It is noteworthy that according to the head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, the Russian Defense Ministry is considering the shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP by Ukrainian forces an act of nuclear terrorism under a UN convention adopted by a resolution of the UN General Assembley. 

The official said if an accident were to happen, which the shelling could potentially cause, the effects would surpass the scale of Chernobyl and Fukushima - the entire territories of Ukraine, Donetsk, Lugansk, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Romania would be contaminated by nuclear waste.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian army sabotaged a high-voltage power line that provides electricity to nearby regions, which sparked a "power surge" at the station, causing smoke in a switchgear used to protect electrical equipment. 

Russia has rejected previous claims, made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that it uses the Zaporozhye NPP as a military base.