Russia says UN team on its way to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Wednesday the UN nuclear watchdog's team is heading to the Zaporizhzhia plant.

"The team of the agency, according to our information, is on its way," said Maria Zakharova at a news conference in Moscow.

The Russian side is doing everything necessary so that the International Atomic Energy Agency mission headed by Rafael Grossi reaches the spot safely, she added.

She further said that Moscow hopes the visit of the IAEA mission to the power plant would help stop shelling that may provoke a nuclear catastrophe.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling in the area around the plant.

Under Moscow’s control since early in the Russian-launched war, Europe's largest nuclear power plant has been shelled several times, raising concerns of a nuclear disaster.

The IAEA will discuss a range of options to resolve the issue, including organizing a permanent stay of the IAEA experts at the plant.

- Passage of US warships in Taiwan Strait is 'provocation'

The spokeswoman denied that the deliveries of the Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia are supposed to be discussed at Wednesday's meeting of the Russian and Iranian foreign ministers, noting that the topic is being "artificially" promoted by the US media.

Turning to the Asia-Pacific region, Zakharova said the passage of two US Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait was "a new provocation" against China, which considers Taiwan its territory.

Condemning such moves for destabilizing the region, she called the situation in "the Taiwan Strait to be a purely internal matter of China, which has the right to take measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity."