Vladimir Putin allows inspectors to visit Ukraine nuclear plant, as Russia’s advance grinds to halt
- Moscow will allow a team to go to the Zaporizhzhia facility, French President Macron’s office says, amid fears that fighting at the site could spark catastrophe
- Meanwhile, Russia’s forces are making a ‘complete and total lack of progress’ on the battlefield, a senior US defence official told reporters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed for a team of independent inspectors to travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant via Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.
The apparent resolution of a dispute over whether inspectors travel to the plant via Ukraine or Russia came as a senior US defence official said Ukraine’s forces had brought the Russian advance to a halt.
“You are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” the official said, speaking to reporters on grounds of anonymity.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered the demand” that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a “catastrophe”.
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Smoke billows near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after fresh round of shelling in Russia-Ukraine war
It specified that Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.