IAEA Chief Meets Officials In Kyiv, Heads To Zaporizhzhya As Nuclear Concerns Mount

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on September 3 before a planned visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, where he said the situation is "very fragile."

Grossi said on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhya to "continue our assistance & help prevent a nuclear accident." The Zaporzhzhya plant has been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after their country's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has frequently had its power cut by shelling or been caught in the cross-fire of nearby fighting.

In addition to meeting Zelenskiy, Grossi met with Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko; Petro Kotin, head of state nuclear power company Enerhoatom; and Oleh Korikov, acting head of Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate.

Grossi said they exchanged views on the IAEA's support to Ukraine's nuclear power plants ahead of his visit to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. The visit follows the IAEA chief's visit last week to the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia, which is about 40 kilometers from the part of the region that Ukrainian forces have occupied since the start of their August cross-border incursion. Moscow has accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk plant.

Grossi said after meeting Zelenskiy that he wouldn't compare the situation at the two power plants.

Ukrainian officials reported multiple civilian deaths from overnight Russian attacks in Zaporizhzhya and an attack on the country's railway infrastructure.

The number of people injured as a result of a Russian missile attack on the building of a hotel complex in Zaporizhzhya on September 2 rose to six, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported on September 3. Two more women sought medical treatment independently, and one of them was in serious condition with a concussion, the Emergency Service said.

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Ukraine's General Staff said early on September 3 that around a quarter of the clashes with Russian forces over the past 24 hours had taken place in the east near the strategically significant Donetsk region town of Pokrovsk, where Russian troops have reportedly made significant gains in recent weeks.

Ukrainian Railways said on September 2 that it was continuing evacuation efforts for families from Pokrovsk, which is now only about 10 kilometers from the front line.

The state rail operator said on September 3 that an enemy drone had struck a locomotive on a Korchakivka-Sumy train but no injuries were reported. It also said overnight attacks had targeted rail infrastructure in the northeastern Sumy and the southern Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Ukrainian officials said an 8-year-old boy and his mother were killed in Russian shelling overnight in the Zaporizhzhya region.

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Ukraine's military said on September 3 that it had downed 27 of 35 Russian drones overnight around the country. Antiaircraft defenses functioned in the Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions, but two ballistic missiles that hit the eastern city of Poltava killed scores of people at a military training facility and nearby hospital.

The Russian Defense Ministry said early on September 3 that it was deploying more air-defense systems in the southern Belgorod region that borders central Ukraine's Kharkiv region and in the Russian region of Kursk where Kyiv launched its surprise incursion last month.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted multiple anonymous sources on September 3 as saying Russia's Gazpromneft oil refinery suspended work at the Euro+ combined processing unit in Moscow after a fire two days earlier. The sources said the plant was expected to be back online within six days.