IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi leads the IAEA expert mission as they set for their official visit to Ukraine to the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). Reuters.

Kyiv, August 30 (RHC)-- A group of experts that make up the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, to later move to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, reported RT channel.

The delegation, made up of 14 people and headed by the director general of the international entity, Rafael Grossi, was seen arriving on Tuesday morning at a hotel in the Ukrainian capital.

The IAEA visit occurs amid recurrent Ukrainian attacks in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian troops since last March, causing concerns about the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe.

Earlier, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria, confirmed that the information gathered during the inspection of the nuclear facility would allow for an independent assessment of the plant’s safety and the risks associated with the attacks.

The day before, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the IAEA delegation would arrive at the plant through the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army.

‘We have been waiting for this mission for a long time. We consider it necessary. And we still believe that all countries should put pressure on the Ukrainian side to stop endangering the European continent,’ the spokesman stressed.

Earlier, local authorities in Zaporizhzhia denounced that Ukrainian troops are shelling sites located on the possible route of the IAEA mission to reach the power plant.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporizhzhia administration, told RIA Novosti that Ukrainian forces fired shells at a sanatorium of the nuclear power plant, where the IAEA delegation could be staying.

Rogov added that in early Tuesday morning, Kiev troops again shelled the territory of the power plant with the use of large-caliber artillery. ‘Two hits were recorded near the spent nuclear fuel storage building,’ he stressed.

Since last August 5, both local and Russian authorities have been denouncing direct attacks on the atomic facility by Kyiv. In parallel, accusations against the Russian Army for the attacks and aggravation of the situation do not cease.