Tensions remain high over the status and fate of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe's largest such plant — with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again calling for international action to prevent a catastrophe at the Russian-occupied facility.
Russia's Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said Monday that he spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the nuclear power plant and its safe operation of the facility in southern Ukraine, where fighting is intense.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the facility and surrounding areas in recent weeks, with both denying each other's accusations. Ukraine says Russia has used the plant, which it has occupied since early on in the invasion, to store military equipment and ammunition.
Some Russian officials claimed that U.N. officials were canceling or blocking visits from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the facility, but a U.N. spokesperson has denied that.
"First, the IAEA is a specialized agency that acts in full independence in deciding how to implement its specific mandate. Second, the U.N. Secretariat has no authority to block or cancel any IAEA activities," wrote U.N. Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric in a statement Monday.