Fresh alarm around Ukraine’s frontline nuclear plant as experts seek urgent visit

International experts hope to visit a war-scarred nuclear power plant on the frontline of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the coming days, as the opposing sides blamed each other for fresh shelling that reportedly cut electricity at Europe’s biggest atomic site.

Concern for the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant rose again as Ukraine counted the cost of a wave of missile attacks on its towns and cities on Wednesday – the country’s independence day and six months since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion – including a strike that killed at least 25 people at a railway station and in nearby housing in eastern Ukraine.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the organisation was “very close” to securing agreement to inspect the Zaporizhzhia plant in occupied southeastern Ukraine, and that such a visit could take place within “days”.

After discussing the issue with French president Emmanuel Macron, he told French television there was a “general recognition that we need to be there … Kyiv accepts it, Moscow accepts it, and we’re going to be there hopefully very, very soon.”

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The plant’s six reactors are still run by Ukrainian technicians, but the site is controlled by Russian troops who seized the area in March, and the two countries accuse each other of firing at the facility and damaging its radiation sensors and power lines.

Ukrainian and Russian officials said on Thursday that shelling had caused a power cut in Enerhodar, the town where the plant is located, and in surrounding areas. Other reports said water supply was also affected and dry fields nearby caught fire, but there was no immediate suggestion that safety at the station – which has back-up generators – was compromised.

Ukrainian atomic energy operator Energoatom said Russian shelling had disconnected the plant from the national grid “for the first time in its history”, and that workers were trying to reconnect it. Only two of its six reactors are now operating, and three of its four main power lines were damaged earlier in the war.

United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres told the organisation’s security council on Wednesday that he was “gravely concerned” about the power station.

“The warning lights are flashing. Any actions that might endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the nuclear plant are simply unacceptable. Any further escalation of the situation could lead to self-destruction. The security of the plant must be ensured, and the plant must be re-established as purely civilian infrastructure,” he said.

Ukraine and Russia say they want IAEA inspectors to visit the site, but Moscow has rejected calls from Kyiv, western powers and Mr Guterres to withdraw its troops and armour from the facility.

Ukraine said 25 civilians were killed, including two children, when Russian missiles hit a train station and residential buildings in the eastern town of Chaplyne on Wednesday. Moscow’s defence ministry said the missiles hit a military train and killed more than 200 Ukrainian army reservists and destroyed equipment.

Moscow has not revealed how many of its soldiers have been killed and injured during its invasion of Ukraine, but Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday to increase the size of the country’s armed forces to 2.04 million people from 1.9 million.