“Ukrainian nationalists are launching attacks on possible IAEA mission route in the city of Energodar. In addition, Zelensky’s regime launched an operation in the south of the country, which doubles concerns about the safety of the agency’s mission,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye administration, RIA Novosti said.
The official specified that the Ukrainian forces launched projectiles against a sanatorium belonging to the nuclear plant, where members of the mission might be staying.
Rogov added that in the early hours of this Tuesday, Ukrainian troops once again shelled the territory of the plant using large-caliber artillery, including US-supplied M777 howitzers. ‘Two shells fell near the used nuclear fuel storage building,’ he said.
The perpetrators of the attack had “the deliberate intention” to prevent the arrival of the IAEA mission, the Energodar city administration stated.
The mission, led by Director General Mario Grossi, is on its way to the plant on a journey that began on Monday, and is expected to arrive after crossing territory controlled by the Ukrainian Army, as previously confirmed by the Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitri Peskov.
A senior Pentagon official admitted at a press conference on Monday that Ukraine may have attacked the area of the plant. “And I don’t want to say that the Ukrainians haven’t fired in that vicinity either because I think there’s probably a likelihood that they have, but in good – in a number of cases, it’s returning fire of the Russians who are firing from those locations,” he said.
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