Ukraine war: IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says saw what ‘needed to see’ at Zaporizhzhia: Russian media

UN inspection team was delayed several hours by shelling near plant. Both Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of trying to sabotage the IAEA mission

Russia is also considering a plan to buy as much as US$70 billion in yuan and other ‘friendly’ currencies this year to slow the rouble’s surge

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A general view of a crater left by a Russian missile strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia on September 1, 2022. Photo: Supplied to Reuters by a third party

Published: 8:16pm, 1 Sep 2022Updated: 11:39pm, 1 Sep 2022

A team of UN experts arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia atomic plant complex on Thursday to assess the risk of a radiation disaster after being delayed several hours by shelling near the site.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he saw what he “needed to see” at the nuclear plant that has been frequently shelled.

“I think we were able in these few hours to put together a lot, a lot of information. The key things I needed to see I saw, and your explanations were very clear,” Rafael Grossi told Russian media accompanying the IAEA inspection team at the Moscow-controlled atomic plant.

“The IAEA is staying here. Let the world know that the IAEA is staying at Zaporizhzhia,” Grossi, said in a video released by the Russian RIA Novosti news agency. He did not specify how many people will be staying and for how long.

Russia and Ukraine earlier accused each other of trying to sabotage the mission to the plant in southern central Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian staff.

Conditions at the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, have been unravelling for weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv regularly trading blame for shelling in the vicinity and fuelling fears of a Chernobyl-style radiation disaster.