Let me give you an example. The physical damage to the plant with the exception of the event on the night of the 3rd to the 4th of March, with this fire, the shelling actually started in August. So it is quite clearly a more recent trend, if I can call it that. So what we see with this increase of military activity is that the physical integrity is more compromised. And with that, we ... I take you to the power supply, because it is clear that those who have these aims, these military aims, know very well that the way to cripple or to do more damage is not to look into the reactors which are enormously sturdy and robust but to hit where it hurts. So the plant becomes very, very problematic. So my concern would be the physical integrity [of] the power supply and, of course, the staff.

Residents of Ener*odar handed over to the head of the IAEA an appeal to the world community in connection with the Ukrainian shelling - he promised that their call would be heard.

He was also shown a map of Ukrainian strikes on the territory of the nuclear power plant, RIA Novosti correspondent reports.

"We are establishing a permanent presence on site, this time with two of our experts who will be continuing the work," Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters after returning to Vienna from the Russian-occupied Zaporizh* nuclear power plant.

He added that both Ukraine and Russia agreed to have two IAEA inspectors stay at the plant permanently. "This has tremendous value, it makes a huge difference."

Their continued presence will allow the U.N. agency to provide independent information to the international community about the situation at the plant.
[...]
No political puppet

Grossi also addressed criticisms from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk*, who on Thursday complained that the IAEA head had not demanded the demilitarization of the power plant and its surrounding area. "This was the key -- the key! -- security point of our agreements," Zelenskyy said.

#Ukraine is desperate #Zelensky regime preemptively attack #IAEA mission in #ZaporizhzhiaNPP

"UN team manipulated and given false information at nuclear plant"🙈 pic.twitter.com/9p2zWr3ds0

— Malinka🔸Tanya P (@Malinka1102) September 2, 2022

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told reporters that six of the experts remain at the site to continue with the work | The Guardian - Live updates |

'Sapere aude'

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of manipulating and distorting information shared with the IAEA. Ukrainian state-owned operator Energoatom said in a statement that Russian officials "are making every effort to prevent the IAEA mission from getting to know the real state of affairs. They spread manipulative and false information about this visit."

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has accused Ukraine of "nuclear terrorism". Russian news agencies are reporting that defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said Ukraine was continuing to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

Offering no evidence for the accusation, it quotes Vladimir Rogov saying "Ukrainian special services, on the orders of Zelenskiy, tried to introduce their  spies and saboteurs working under journalistic cover into the IAEA delegation to the ZNPP.

Ukraine's military said it carried out strikes against Russian positions in the region around the southern town of Enerhodar near a nuclear power plant where U.N. experts are working, Reuters reports.

The revelation by the armed forces' general staff was unusual, since the military rarely gives details of specific targets.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is gathering data at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, on the edge of Russian-occupied Enerhodar.

"It has been confirmed that in the region around the towns of Kherson and Enerhodar, precise strikes by our armed forces destroyed three enemy artillery systems as well as a warehouse with ammunition and up to a company of soldiers," the general staff said in a Facebook post.