, Europe’s largest and close to frontlines in the war, amid fears of a radiation disaster in a country still haunted by the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
She declined to give details of the counter-offensive, saying Russian forces in southern Ukraine remained “quite powerful”. The IAEA tweeted separately that the mission would assess physical damage, evaluate the conditions in which staff are working at the plant and “determine functionality of safety & security systems”. It would also “perform urgent safeguards activities”, a reference to keeping track of nuclear material.
Earlier, Ukraine’s military reported shelling of nine more towns on the opposite side of the Dnipro from the plant.