TOP HEADLINES

• Around eight to 12 international nuclear inspectors are staying on at Ukraine's Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi left, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. Alexander Volga, the Russian-appointed chief administrator of the adjacent Russian-held town of Enerhodar, was quoted as saying they would be accommodated in the power plant's hotel in Enerhodar. READ MORE BELOW

• Rafael Grossi said he saw what he "needed to see" at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant that has been frequently shelled. "I think we were able in these few hours to put together a lot, a lot of information. The key things I needed to see I saw, and your explanations were very clear," Grossi told Russian media accompanying the IAEA inspection team at the facility. 

• Ukraine said a reactor at its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant complex was shut down by Russian shelling, while Moscow said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to seize the plant. Both sides accused each other of trying to sabotage the visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the plant in southern central Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian staff. READ MORE BELOW

• In the past 24 hours, five civilians in the Donetsk region were killed and 12 were wounded, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram messaging app.

• Russia launched large-scale military exercises involving several Kremlin-friendly countries, including China, with tensions soaring between Moscow and Western capitals. The exercises, called Vostok-2022, are scheduled to take place until September 7 across several training grounds in Russia's Far East and in the waters off its eastern coast. 

• The European Union has opened a medical center in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow to care for Ukrainian patients waiting for evacuation flights, officials said. Russia's offensive in Ukraine has made its airspace unsafe for mercy flights and Kyiv's allies have been evacuating the sick and wounded across the land border to Poland for treatment.

• French President Emmanuel Macron defended his policy of keeping up a dialogue with Russia, saying that Türkiye should not be the only power talking to Moscow and preparations should already be made for a negotiated peace.

• The Kremlin denounced the decision by EU foreign ministers to suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, and warned of potential countermeasures. "This is bad for Russians. It will take longer and be more difficult to obtain visas," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, saying this would "make the situation more difficult for Europeans as well. Another ridiculous decision in a series of ongoing absurdities".

• Finland will donate defense supplies worth $8.3 million to Ukraine, bringing the total value of Finland's defense donations to Ukraine to $92.2 million since the beginning of the conflict, a defense ministry spokesman said.

IN DETAIL

UN inspectors 'staying' at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the UN agency will be "staying" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine after a visit to the facility.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi led a team of inspectors to the Russian-controlled plant that has been frequently shelled in recent weeks raising fears of a nuclear incident.

"We have achieved something very important today and the important thing is the IAEA is staying here. Let the world know that the IAEA is staying at Zaporizhzhia," Grossi said after the inspection in a video released by the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

Around eight to 12 international nuclear inspectors are staying on at the plant after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi left, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Earlier Grossi said the IAEA would seek to establish a "permanent presence" there.

During the inspection "we were able in these few hours to put together a lot of information. The key things I needed to see I saw, and your explanations were very clear", Grossi added.

He noted the "dedicated work" of the plant's staff and managers who are "carrying on professionally with their work" despite "very difficult circumstances".

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility, has faced repeated shelling in recent weeks, with Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks, raising concerns of a possible nuclear incident. 

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant partially shut down by shelling

Ukraine said a reactor at its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant complex was shut down by Russian shelling just before a team of UN nuclear experts was due to visit the site, while Moscow said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to seize the plant.

Both sides accused each other of trying to sabotage the visit by the IAEA to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern central Ukraine, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian staff.

A Reuters reporter in Russian-controlled Enerhodar near the plant said a residential building was struck by shelling, forcing people to take cover in a basement. It was not possible to establish who had fired. Soldiers ran about and helicopters flew overhead. 

Energoatom, the Ukrainian plant operator, announced the shutdown of one of only two operational reactors at the plant.

"As a result of another mortar shelling by Russian ... forces at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the emergency protection was activated and the operational fifth power unit was shut down," Energoatom wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

"Power unit No. 6 continues to work in the energy system of Ukraine" and is supplying electricity for the power plant's own needs, it said.

Conditions at the nuclear plant, Europe's largest, have been unraveling for weeks, with Moscow and Kyiv regularly trading blame for shelling in the vicinity and fuelling fears of a Chornobyl-style radiation disaster.

Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukrainian forces of trying to seize the plant and also of shelling both the meeting point of the IAEA delegation and the nuclear plant itself.

Russia's defense ministry said in a statement that up to 60 Ukrainian troops had crossed the Dnipro river, which divides territory held by the two sides, in boats at 6:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), in what it said was a "provocation" aimed at disrupting the planned IAEA visit. 

The ministry said that "measures had been taken" to destroy the opposing troops, including use of military aviation.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that residential areas in the town of Enerhodar – home to the Zaporizhzhia plant – had come under "massive" shelling from Ukrainian troops overnight, citing Russian-appointed authorities.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian reports or the Ukrainian report of Russian shelling at the plant.