September 6, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

"The day has come," Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declared last Monday, marking the beginning of his journey to the largest nuclear plant in Europe that sits on the firing line between the Russian occupiers and Ukrainian forces.

Then on Thursday, a group of 14 inspectors led by Grossi arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine, despite concerns about constant shelling in the area.

Since early March, when Russia captured the plant, international and local experts have voiced grave warnings, not only for the safety of the plant's workers, but also for fear of a nuclear disaster that could affect thousands of people in the surrounding area.

Take a closer look at the perilous situation at the plant here.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to release a report on the nuclear safety and security situation in Ukraine later today, including its findings from the mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Last Thursday IAEA chief Rafael Grossi led a 14-person mission to the plant, which has been held by Russian forces since March.

The area around the plant has seen persistent shelling for weeks, some of which has damaged the plant's infrastructure, according to the IAEA, raising fears of a nuclear incident.

On Monday, Ukraine's state nuclear energy provider, Energoatom, said the plant was operating "with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety regulations."

"Currently, only the 6th power unit remains in operation, which supplies electricity to the energy system of Ukraine and provides the Zaporizhzhia NPP's (nuclear power plant's) own needs," it added.

Energoatom said the fifth power unit was disconnected on Saturday, blaming "repeated shelling by the Russian invaders" for damage to the communication line between the plant and the Ukrainian grid.

CNN is unable to confirm the allegation. 

As Ukrainian forces continue their offensive in the southern Kherson region, Russian media are reporting heavy bombardments around the town of Nova Kakhovka on the Dnipro river. 

The Russian backed administration of Nova Kakhovka said Tuesday the town "is once again shelled with rockets from the AFU [armed forces of Ukraine.] This is the eighth air raid alarm in a day."

Quoted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Vladimir Leontiev, head of the administration, said: "There were 74 missiles overnight, incoming shells continued in the morning, they hit the road infrastructure, the hydroelectric power station."

"Most of the missiles were repelled by air defense, day by day the results of the air defense are getting better and better," Leontiev added.

Nova Kakhovka is home to a strategic hydroelectric power plant, and a bridge across the River Dnipro that has been frequently attacked by Ukrainian air strikes and artillery. The bridge is now thought to be impassable.

A missile attack sparked a heavy fire at an oil depot in central Ukraine, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration reported Tuesday. 

“There was a missile attack on Kryvyi Rih. Heavy fire at the oil depot. Firefighters and a fire engine are on the scene. The scale of the destruction and information about the victims are being clarified,” Valentyn Reznichenko posted on Telegram, alongside a photograph showing large clouds of black smoke. 

Reznichenko did not clarify when the fire first broke out. 

Russian forces continue to shell Ukrainian towns and villages across the Donetsk region, but have made no progress on the ground, according to Ukrainian regional authorities.

Several towns in Donetsk were shelled on Monday, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka, and four civilians were wounded. No information was provided on Ukrainian military casualties.

The regional administration said that a mandatory evacuation in much of Donetsk was still in force.

Despite daily bombardments by Russian artillery, air strikes and tank fire, there has been virtually no change on the front lines in Donetsk for several weeks. Analysts say that after a string of losses in June on the border of Luhansk and Donetsk, Ukrainian forces have largely held their positions -- and almost daily Russian assaults have been rebuffed. In recent days, Ukrainian units even advanced in one area across the Siverskiy Donets river, but it's unclear how much resistance they met.

Ukrainian officials say the latest Russian assault was towards Bakhmut overnight Monday.

Further south in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, the Russians shelled the Nikopol district across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the regional administration. Regional administrators said 11 homes and 20 high-rise buildings were damaged.

An apartment building in the middle of Ukraine's second largest city was destroyed by Russian fire early Tuesday, said the head of the Kharkiv region military administration.

"As a result of the morning strikes in Kharkiv, an apartment building in the central part of the city was destroyed," Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

"Information about the victims is being clarified. There are no hospitalized patients at the moment."

Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said that a few survivors have been rescued from the rubble of the residential building.

"Three people have already been rescued from the ruins of a residential building — two women and a man. According to preliminary information they are not injured," Terekhov said.

He said another shell had struck an administrative building but "there is no information on casualties as of now."

Serhii Bolvinov, head of the Police Investigation Department in Kharkiv, said that two rockets had landed in the city center.

 "The types of rockets and the number of victims are being clarified," he said.

Russia is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, a US official told CNN.

The purchase indicates that the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions, according to the official.

The US expects Russia could try to buy more military equipment from North Korea going forward, the source said.

The New York Times first reported the purchases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of intentionally deteriorating the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (ZNPP) after the power plant lost connection to the country's energy grid on Monday.

A spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told CNN that the transmission line connecting Zaporizhzhia to the Ukrainian energy grid had been intentionally disconnected due to a fire. The spokesperson also said the line had not suffered any damage and would be reconnected as soon as the fire was extinguished.

Ukraine blamed Russia for the shelling, which, it said, caused the fire.

“Russia is only interested in keeping the situation at its worst for the longest time,” he added, explaining this was the second time the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been disconnected from the Ukrainian grid, bringing it “one step away from a radiation disaster.”

“This can only be amended by enhancing sanctions, only by officially recognizing Russia as a terrorist state -- at all levels,” Zelensky concluded. “This requires an international response -- starting with the UN to every normal state.”

Ukraine's state nuclear energy provider said Monday that four of the six members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team still at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have left after completing their work, and that it expected the remaining two would remain at the facility "on a permanent basis." 

This came hours after Vladimir Rogov, a senior pro-Russian official in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia, said the IAEA's current mission to the plant would end Tuesday, though he acknowledged uncertainty over the timeline. 

"There is still no clear understanding of whether IAEA representatives will stay at the nuclear power plant on a permanent basis," Rogov said.

"The delegation is still working on September 5. After its mission ends, they leave on September 6. They have received all kinds of assistance. We are interested in an objective and balanced assessment of the situation at the nuclear power plant." 

In brief comments to CNN Monday, a spokesperson for the IAEA would only say that two IAEA experts are staying at the plant. The organization's Director General Rafael Grossi said during a visit to the plant last Thursday that the IAEA would keep a continuing presence there.