IAEA team arrive at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after shelling delay, UK edition 13.43

... Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of Ener*odar, posted pictures of damaged buildings with smoke spiralling above them on the Telegram messaging app, saying Russian troops had been "shelling since dawn" with mortars, rockets and automatic weapons.

Energoatom said the city had come under fire from the air. "A group of Russian K-52 attack helicopters worked over the city, striking residential areas," it said, adding that one mortar attack struck "in the immediate vicinity" of the plant.

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensk*'s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accused Moscow of trying to wreck the inspection, saying Russia was acting like a terrorist state. "It is Russia that is responsible for everything happening at the plant and in Ener*odar," he said.

The presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Russia was conducting "demonstrative strikes" in Ener*odar in order to blame Ukraine for them, saying this showed the extent of Moscow's "real 'interest' in the inspection"....

The UN nuclear agency's mission was able to gather "a lot" of information in a few hours, Grossi told reporters in a video released by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti [!].

Grossi said: We were able, in these few hours, to gather a lot, a lot of information. The key things I needed to see, I saw.

Grossi left the plant following the visit, the Russian news agency reported.

[winding Dniepro, L-(N), R-(S) banks MAP]
The Russian-installed Governor [Balytskyi] of occupied areas of Zaporizh* told [RF] news agency RIA Novosti that the mission would inspect operational parts of the plant and visit its reactors on Thursday [2 Sep]. Yevhen Balytskyi added that the mission would stay until September 3.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko earlier said the mission had a security agreement with Russia, and suggested several members of the team would stay onsite "for several days." IAEA chief Grossi is due to arrive back in Novooleksandrivka on Thursday [2 Sep], he added.

Ukraine would be unable to ensure the security of the mission while in the plant, as it is Russian-held, Halushchenko said, stressing that situation around the nuclear facility remains "a mess."

"We told him that we cannot do this and that is your own responsibility," Halushchenko said, referring to Grossi. He said Grossi seemed "confident to assume the risk."