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Uncertainty hangs over the planned visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant by a team from the UN nuclear watchdog, as inspectors arrived in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia city on Wednesday, where they are likely to spend the night before crossing the frontline. The International Atomic Energy Agency mission into Russian-controlled territory, which comprises representatives from countries deemed neutral by both sides, was reportedly intended to last four days. But on Wednesday, the Russian-occupying authorities said the IAEA would be given access for one day. They also said the mission would be expected to join the queue of civilians who cross back and...

KYIV, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Energoatom state nuclear company said on Friday Russian forces planned to switch off the functioning power blocks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to disconnect them from the Ukrainian power grid. In a statement, Energoatom said it believed Russia, which controls the power plant in southern Ukraine, was preparing to conduct a "large-scale provocation" there. Moscow itself accused Kyiv of preparing a "provocation" at the site on Thursday. (clip) Turning the plant off would pile new pressure on Ukrainian supplies, particularly in the south. Ukraine is already bracing for its most difficult winter...

Russian president Vladimir Putin and France’s Emmanuel Macron have agreed to push ahead with an urgent safety mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, Europe’s largest, which both sides in the war say is at risk from the fighting around it.A senior French official said Putin had agreed in a call with Macron on Friday that the IAEA inspectors could visit from Ukrainian-held territory — as demanded by Kyiv — and would not be obliged to access the power station from the zone invaded and controlled by Russian forces, although the Kremlin...

The UN's nuclear watchdog has called for an immediate end to any military action near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, warning of a "very real risk of a nuclear disaster". IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said he was "extremely concerned" by reports of shelling at Europe's largest nuclear power plant. It comes as Ukraine said parts of the facility were "seriously damaged" by Russian military strikes. Russia seized the plant in March. Russia has kept on its Ukrainian employees, but Kyiv accuses Russian forces of firing rockets at civilian areas from the site, employing "terror tactics". Friday's strikes underline "the very real...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years.

Russian energy officials have claimed control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Station, Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, according to Ukrainian officials. Energy officials from Rosatom, the Russian state atomic energy corporation, arrived in Zaporizhzhya on Friday and said the plant is now part of their company.... ...The International Atomic Energy Agency said that two of the four high voltage offsite power lines at the Zaporizhzhia plant have been damaged...Ukrainian technicians have begun to repair the damaged power lines at the plant, Insider reported on Saturday. The Russian military has also gotten dangerously close to the nuclear plant in Yuzhnoukrainsk...

In response to an unconfirmed (and probably totally bogus) report that Russia is laying explosives around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine in order to “blackmail the whole of Europe,” actress Patricia Arquette demanded that we “kick Russia out of NATO”:

A fire has been seen at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine after tanks opened fire with heavy weapons at the facility, footage in the early hours of Friday morning showed. A live feed from the Zaporizhzhia station showed flames at the site in the east of country, having earlier showed tanks firing at buildings - sparking fears of a radiation disaster in the nation currently being invaded by Russian forces. Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar, confirmed the blaze in an online post. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest of its kind in...