Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an IAEA visit following the'suicidal' nuclear facility bombing.

 In response to reports of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southeast Ukraine, diplomats called for an end to hostilities so that UN inspectors might visit the facility.

 

Several explosions struck the plant on Friday, resulting in some damage and partially cutting off a reactor from Ukraine's power system, but no radioactive spill was found. The complex, which has six nuclear reactors and is the biggest of its kind in Europe, is under the control of Russian soldiers, although Ukrainian employees continue to run the facility.

 

An attack on a nuclear site would be "suicidal," according to U.N. chief António Guterres, who also requested that inspectors from the IAEA, the organization in charge of overseeing nuclear activities, be permitted access to Zaporizhzhia.

 

Poland's Foreign Affairs Ministry stated on Twitter on Monday that Russia "must immediately end the occupation of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and evacuate its military equipment."

 

Rafael Grossi, director of the IAEA, issued a statement over the weekend stating that the shelling increased the "very real risk of a nuclear accident that might endanger human health and the environment in Ukraine and abroad."

 

The explosions have been attributed to each other by Russia and Ukraine. Russia claims Ukraine has carried out its own strikes in the area, but Ukraine has accused Russia of using the facility as a cover for artillery and rocket fire.

 

Moscow stated on Monday that it would permit IAEA inspectors access to the site, but it provided no information on how it would make this possible. The IAEA estimates that Ukraine's 15 operational reactors, six of which are in Zaporizhzhia, produce nearly half of the nation's electricity.

 

Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine, added to The Washington Post that Kyiv supports a U.N. team visiting the nuclear site "as soon as possible." To confirm how the nuclear materials are being used, he stated, "We want the watchdog to come to the power plant and check on the status." "And we also request that the group compile a report on the nuclear security violations Russia is doing in Zaporizhzhia."

 

But according to experts, for monitors to enter securely, the area would first need to be demilitarized.

According to Jon Wolfsthal, a former senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, "the IAEA would need support from the U.N. Security Council and they would need military security."

 

A nuclear meltdown in Ukraine in 1986 caused a radioactive haze to envelop Europe. Amid the fighting near Zaporizhzhia, the Chornobyl disaster has loomed large.

Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, claimed on state television that "everything is more or less under control," adding that "our country has suffered through Chernobyl and, therefore, every person and the country have a special attention to these concerns."

 

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky encouraged the world community to hold Russia responsible for the attack over the weekend.

 

According to him, "no nation in the world can feel secure when a terrorist state shoots at a nuclear plant." "Please, God. If something irreparable occurs, nobody will be able to stop the wind from spreading the radioactive contamination.