There Was A Shooting Near The Zhabirizhia PLTN Complex, IAEA's Postponed Inspection Mission Hours: Russia-Ukraine Trading

PLTN Zaporizhia Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Maxim Gavrilyuk)

JAKARTA - The shooting near Ukraine's Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (PLTN) complex forced an hour-long delay in UN expert inspections on Thursday, although mission leaders are determined to continue to carry out inspections taking into account safety.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told reporters Thursday morning in Zaporizhia City, 55 km (34 miles) from the factory, that he was aware of "an increase in military activity in the area", but would continue plans to visit facilities and meet the staff.

"So far, we haven't stopped", Grossi, who is leading the mission, said by Reuters on September 1.

IAEA inspectors, wearing body shields and traveling in white armored SUVs with UN marks on their sides, drove out of town escorted by police and detained at the first checkpoint outside the city.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of trying to sabotage the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to Europe's largest nuclear plant.

Ukraine's state nuclear company Energatom said the IAEA convoy was at Ukraine's checkpoint about 20 km (12 miles) from the front line and was waiting for the situation near the plant to be safer.

Earlier, Energotom said Russia's shooting had forced the closure of one of only two reactors operating at the site. Meanwhile, Moscow said it had thwarted Ukraine's attempt to seize the plant.

A Reuters reporter in Russia's nearby city, Energyhodar, said a building he lived in was shot, forcing people to take cover in the basement. It is impossible to determine who shot it. Soldiers run and helicopters fly over.

Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was doing everything it could to ensure the plant could operate safely, and that IAEA inspectors could complete their duties.

Meanwhile, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhia region, said Russian troops had opened fire on the IAEA mission route to be used to achieve power plants.

Instead, Russia accused Ukrainian forces of trying to seize the plant, as well as shooting at the meeting point of the IAEA delegation and the nuclear plant itself.

It is known that conditions at the plant have decomposed for weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv regularly blaming each other for the surrounding shootings, sparking fears of the Chornobyl-style radiation catastrophe.