International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said he expected to issue a report “early next week, once we have the full picture of the situation by the end of the weekend, more or less.” Speaking to reporters in Vienna after returning from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, he said he would brief the UN Security Council on Tuesday. “We saw what I asked to see – everything I asked to see,” Grossi said, adding that his big concerns were the “physical integrity” of the plant, power to the facility and the condition of staff. “Military activity and operations are increasing in this part of the country and that worries me a lot,” he said. “Obviously there is the statistical potential for more bodily harm.” He noted that the bombings began in August and “is clearly a more recent trend,” but did not assign responsibility for damage done so far. The head of Ukraine’s nuclear watchdog, Oleh Korikov, said Ukrainian officials “would like more decisive actions and statements” from IAEA inspectors. “But let’s wait until the mission is over,” he added. Local authorities appointed by Russia said on Friday that staff at the plant restarted a key reactor hours after a bombing a day earlier forced it to shut down. Ukraine’s nuclear power operator Energoatom confirmed on its Telegram channel that the restarted reactor had been reconnected to the power grid. Aleksandr Volga, the Kremlin-backed mayor of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhizhia plant is located, told the Interfax news agency that the facility now has two reactors operating out of a total of six. The head of Ukraine’s powerful National Security Council said work was underway to ensure Ukraine’s power supply should the link to the Zaporizhia site be lost this winter. Oleksiy Danilov also said that Ukrainian authorities were not fully aware of the situation inside the plant at the moment – despite the presence of the IAEA team that went on Thursday. In an interview with The Associated Press, Danilov – a key official in Ukraine’s war effort – said: “I want to emphasize that this is a challenge for the whole world, how to make this nuclear facility not dangerous.” Russia and Ukraine have swapped blame for the bombardment that caused the reactor to be temporarily shut down on Thursday by the emergency protection system. Energoatom said the attack damaged a backup power line used for internal needs and turned one of the plant’s non-working reactors into diesel generators. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said earlier Friday that shelling continued in the area near the plant, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Russian shelling had destroyed homes, gas pipelines and other infrastructure on the other side of the Dnieper River – part of the fighting in several areas of eastern and southern Ukraine during the night. Russia and Ukraine exchanged accusations that the other side was trying to obstruct the work of IAEA experts or control the message. Zelensky, in his Thursday night speech, had harsh words for the IAEA delegation. While he welcomed his arrival at the plant, he said independent journalists were not covered by the visit, allowing the Russians to present a one-sided, “futile tour”. In a teleconference with reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow viewed the mission’s arrival “positively,” despite all the problems and difficulties caused by the provocative actions of the Ukrainian side. The 14-member delegation arrived in a convoy of SUVs and trucks after months of negotiations to allow experts to pass through the front lines. They braved gunfire and artillery blasts along the way. Grossi said Friday that six of the agency’s experts remain at the plant and there will be a “permanent presence on site … with two of our experts continuing the project.” He was not specific about exactly how long the two specialists will stay. “The difference between being there and not being there is like night and day,” he said. The plant has been occupied by Russian forces, but has been run by Ukrainian engineers since the early days of the six-month war. Grossi said there was a “professional modus vivendi” at the venue. He said that “it is admirable for Ukrainian specialists to continue working under these conditions.” “It’s not an easy situation. it’s a tense situation, it’s not an ideal situation, it’s a situation that everybody faces,” he said. Ukraine claims Russia is using the plant as a shield to launch attacks. On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu rejected the Ukrainian claims and said Russia had no heavy weapons either at the site or in nearby areas. Shoigu said Ukrainian forces fired 120 artillery shells and used 16 suicide drones to hit the plant, “creating a real threat of nuclear destruction in Europe.” Elsewhere in Ukraine on Friday, Zelensky’s office said four people were killed and 10 wounded in the last day in the eastern Donetsk region, a key hub of the Russian invasion. ___ Joanna Kozlowska in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
