IAEA mission reaches Kyiv to inspect nuclear power plant

Kyiv, August 30

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an informal conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, during which the leaders discussed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, RBC-Ukraine reported on Tuesday, citing Zelenskyy’s spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov.

The IAEA expert mission headed by Director General Rafael Grossi arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to inspect the NPP. The mission consists of 13 experts without representatives from the US, the UK and Russia.

The IAEA inspection at the NPP will last from August 31 to September 3.

The Zaporizhzhia NPP, located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in terms of the number of units and output. Since March, the facility and surrounding areas have been controlled by the Russian military.

The NPP has recently been a target of intensive shelling by Ukrainian forces, raising international concerns over a possible nuclear disaster. Kiev, in turn, has blamed Russia for the shelling. – ANI

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Russian soldiers to run for their lives after his forces launched an offensive to retake southern Ukraine, but Moscow said it had repulsed the attack and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv’s troops.

Ukraine said on Monday its ground forces had gone on the offensive in the south for the first time after a long period of striking Russian supply lines, in particular bridges across the strategically-important River Dnipro, and ammunition dumps.— Agencies

EU to ramp up arms production, eyes Ukraine army training

• European Union ministers on Tuesday debated ways to ramp up weapon production, boost military training for the Ukrainian armed forces and inflict heavier costs on Russia.
• “We are depleting our stocks. We are providing so many capacities to Ukraine that we have to refill our stocks,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Prague, where he is chairing two days of talks between the bloc’s defence and foreign ministers.
• The aim of defence ministers is to work out how best to pool military material and resources and also bulk purchase of ammunition and weapons such as air defence systems which Ukraine continues to need. AP

Won’t disclose battle plans

If they want to survive, it’s time for the Russian military to run away. Go home. Ukraine is taking back its own (land). I will not disclose Kyiv’s battle plans. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President