Russia accused of shelling near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as IAEA visit set to begin

A team of international inspectors was finally approaching Europe's biggest nuclear power plant on Wednesday for a tense visit. The sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has become a de-facto Russian military base right on the front line of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

The Russian military's months-long occupation of the plant and regular shelling around it, by both sides, have fueled fears of a potentially catastrophic nuclear accident. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of putting lives at risk far beyond their own borders by carrying out the attacks, and even as the team led by the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) director set off from Kyiv for the crucial visit, Ukrainian officials said the shelling continued.

Evhen Yevtushenko, a Ukrainian official who heads a military district just across the Dnieper River from the nuclear plant, said Wednesday that the "Russian army is shelling Energodar," where the plant is located.

"These provocations are dangerous," he said.

It took months for Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations-backed IAEA to negotiate the inspectors' visit, which is aimed at assessing damage to the plant and the working conditions for the Ukrainian technicians still running it. It's all a bid to ease the tension around the vast compound and its six nuclear reactors.