PRESSURE BUILDING

U.N. Inspectors Arrive at Ukraine Nuclear Plant Amid Shelling

One of the plant’s reactors was shut down during the bombardment.

Inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Thursday after shelling delayed their entry. Members of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog were prevented from safely accessing the plant for several hours as shells exploded in Enerhodar near where the plant is situated. Before the team’s arrival, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company said the site’s fifth reactor was subject to an emergency shutdown as a precaution during the bombardment. As has become typical of the dangerous blasts that have detonated near the plant in recent months, Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the explosions. Kyiv claimed Russia was attempting to sabotage the inspectors’ arrival while Moscow’s defense ministry said Ukrainian troops had attempted to “seize” the plant.