The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the arrival of its mission, which according to the agency, was delayed for three hours on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the frontline on Thursday.
The visit by the team of 14 experts from IAEA, including its chief Rafael Grossi, comes at a crucial moment for the plant, which has endured constant shelling and raised fears of a nuclear accident.
Shelling broke out on Thursday, with both Russian and Ukrainian officials confirming that the nearby city of Enerhodar had endured a morning of bombardment.
Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom said mortar shelling by Russians forced one of the the plant’s two working reactors to shut down on the same day, while Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of shelling the IAEA mission’s pre-agreed route to the plant.
On Thursday, Grossi told journalists, before what should have been a two-hour drive to the plant, that the mission was to “start immediately an assessment of the security and the safety situation.”
The team’s aim is to establish a permanent presence at the plant, which “we believe is indispensable to stabilize the situation, and to get regular, reliable, impartial, neutral updates of what the situation is there.”
The mission was delayed for around three hours on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the frontline on Thursday, according to the IAEA.
But it remains unclear what sort of access the IAEA inspectors will be granted on their arrival or exactly how long their visit will last.
A Russian-appointed local official told the news agency Interfax that the visit would last just one day, which may not be enough time to fully inspect Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
A prolonged IAEA presence at the nuclear plant would likely help to stave off the possibility of a dangerous nuclear accident. Russia would welcome a permanent IAEA presence at the facility, its diplomat to the agency and other international organizations in Vienna said Wednesday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said that he wants the IAEA to help strike a deal that would demilitarize Zaporizhzhia, rather than simply inspect the plant.
Frequent shelling in and around the plant has raised fears about a nuclear accident. Both sides have accused the other of nuclear terrorism, with Ukraine alleging that the Kremlin is using the nuclear plant as cover to protect its troops and launch attacks.
CNN is unable to verify who is responsible for the shelling.