KYIV (AP) — A U.N. nuclear watchdog workforce set off on an urgent mission Monday to safeguard the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant at the heart of preventing in Ukraine, a extended-awaited trip the globe hopes will assistance stay clear of a radioactive disaster.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for the team of Global Atomic Electrical power Agency specialists who will check out the plant in a nation where by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster sent radiation all through the region, shocked the globe and intensified a worldwide force absent from nuclear electricity.

“Without an exaggeration, this mission will be the most difficult in the background of IAEA,” Ukrainian International Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned.

Underscoring the urgency, Ukraine and Russia all over again accused just about every other of shelling the broader region about the nuclear electric power plant, Europe’s biggest, which was briefly knocked offline very last week. The risks are so large that officials have begun handing out anti-radiation iodine tablets to nearby residents.

To keep away from a catastrophe, IAEA Director-Normal Rafael Grossi has sought obtain for months to the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russian forces have occupied and Ukrainian workers have operated given that the early times of the six-month-aged war.

“The working day has arrive,” Grossi tweeted Monday, including that the Vienna-based IAEA’s “Support and Help Mission … is now on its way.” Ukraine’s International Ministry spokesman explained the workforce, which Grossi heads, is scheduled to get there in Kyiv on Monday. In April, Grossi experienced headed an IAEA mission to Chernobyl, which Russian forces occupied previously in the war.

The IAEA mentioned in a assertion that its crew will “undertake urgent safeguards functions,” assess harm, determine the operation of the plant’s basic safety and stability devices, and appraise the management place staff’s doing work circumstances.

Ukraine’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom, warned Monday of Russian makes an attempt to address up their military use of the plant.

“The occupiers, planning for the arrival of the IAEA mission, amplified pressure on the staff … to…