RIA Novosti: the IAEA mission has arrived at the NPP The convoy with the vehicles of the IAEA mission passed all checkpoints in the Zaporozhye region and arrived at the NPP near Energodar, RIA Novosti news agency reports.
In the morning, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an attempt to land two sabotage groups and Ukrainian troops near the station, as well as the shelling of the territory of the NPP from artillery from the AFU. What is happening around the visit of specialists is in the material of "Gazeta.Ru".
Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at the Zaporozhye NPP, RIA Novosti reported. The delegates came to the territory of the Zaporozhye region controlled by Russia to inspect the situation at the nuclear power plant.
Before that, they stayed for some time at a checkpoint in the territory of the Zaporozhye region controlled by Kiev. This was stated on the air of the TV channel "Russia-1" by the head of the civil-military administration of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky.
A few hours later, Balitsky said that the car with the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi, passed all the checkpoints and moved towards the NPP.
"Grossi has now passed our checkpoint, some more cars are passing it, because there are a lot of cars, now they are already on our territory, at our checkpoint. The first cars passed more than an hour ago, and the main part of this convoy, which was detained by the Ukrainian side, has now been released… They pass the first control and literally in a matter of minutes they will continue their movement in the direction of the nuclear power plant," he said.
Less than an hour later, it became known about the arrival of the first cars of the convoy at the NPP.
Grossi himself said on the morning of September 1 that the minimum necessary conditions for the arrival of the mission had been met. But there are also risks.
"We know that there is a territory, the so-called gray zone between the last line of Ukrainian defense and the front line of Russian forces, where the risk is significant," Grossi said.
The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the situation in the area of the nuclear power plant is "difficult, but remains under full control."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that the Russian side "is doing everything to ensure that this station is safe, that it functions safely and that the mission there implements all its plans."
"They say they have no mandate to identify the perpetrators, but, of course, they will be shown all the traces that were left as a result of the Ukrainian shelling. At our insistence, there should be ballistics experts in the mission. So hopefully we'll learn something. Or rather, we know everything, I hope the world community will also have such an opportunity," Lavrov said, speaking to MGIMO students on September 1.
The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow "fears provocations by the Ukrainian side."
"Attempts are being made to destabilize the situation. We are still waiting for this mission and are ready to cooperate. We are interested in this mission arriving at the station," a Kremlin spokesman told reporters.
A few hours before the arrival of the mission
On the morning of September 1, the Russian Defense Ministry announced "an attempt of a major provocation to disrupt the arrival of the IAEA working group" by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And also about the shelling of the territory of the NPP from Ukrainian artillery.
The message of the Ministry of Defense also says about the attempt to break through two sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian landing.
"At 6.20 Moscow time, on the coast of the Kakhovsky reservoir, three kilometers northeast of the Zaporozhye NPP, the Kiev regime landed two sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a total of up to 60 people on seven high-speed motor boats," the Defense Ministry said.
It states that the Ukrainian military were "blocked by the units of the Rosgvardiya, who were guarding the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and the units of the Russian armed forces that came up to them for reinforcement."
"At about 7.00 Moscow time, the units of the Russian armed forces stopped an attempt to land a few kilometers from the Zaporozhye NPP near the settlement of Vodiane tactical landing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on two self-propelled barges that left Nikopol. As a result of the fire defeat of the Russian Armed Forces, two self-propelled barges with the tactical landing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were sunk," the Ministry of Defense also said in a briefing.
IAEA mission
A day earlier, 14 delegates of the international association arrived in Zaporozhye, the administrative center of the region controlled by Ukraine. On September 1, the mission, as part of a convoy of a large group of vehicles, left in the direction of the nuclear power plant.
According to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, the delegates arrived at the nuclear power plant to "prevent a nuclear accident and preserve the largest nuclear power plant in Europe," the French agency Agence France-Presse reported. Moscow and Kiev regularly accuse each other of shelling the territory of the station.
Grossi stressed that the delegates would immediately get to work and assess the safety situation at the NPP. In addition, the IAEA mission will consider establishing a permanent presence at the Zaporozhye NPP. Members of the international agency will consult with the station staff to assess the situation.
Angelina Milchenko
