UN inspectors head to Ukraine nuclear plant in war zone

UNITED Nations inspectors made their way toward Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Wednesday, a long-anticipated mission that the world hopes will help secure the Russian-held facility in the middle of a war zone and avoid catastrophe.

Underscoring the danger, Kyiv and Moscow again accused each other of attacking the area around Europe’s biggest nuclear plant.

In recent days, the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of fire damage to transmission line — heightening fears that fighting could lead to a massive radiation leak or even a reactor meltdown. The risks are so severe that officials have begun distributing anti-radiation iodine tablets to nearby residents.

Russia-backed local authorities claimed Wednesday that Ukrainian forces repeatedly shelled the territory of the plant and that drone strikes hit the plant’s administrative building and training center. Regional Ukraine governor Valentyn Reznichenko, meanwhile, said a city across the river from the plant came under heavy artillery fire during the