UN nuclear watchdog "making progress" at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, chief says

From CNN's Emiko Jozuka in Tokyo 

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. Kyodo News/Getty Images/FILE

The International Atomic Energy Agency is "making progress" inspecting several areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Friday, following claims by Kyiv that the facility had been mined.

"I think we are making progress," Grossi told reporters in Tokyo.

Grossi said IAEA officials had visited sites including cooling pools and hadn't seen "any indication of explosives or mines in these places."

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia may be using the nuclear plant as a weapon. He accused Russian troops of placing “objects resembling explosives” on roofs at the plant.

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog had not yet been given access to the rooftop, Grossi said. He also reminded reporters the plant is in an "active war zone" and that access takes time.

Nuclear plant on front lines: The Zaporizhzhia facility is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and has been under Russian control since March last year. Its position on the front lines of the war means shelling nearby is common and it has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, repeatedly raising fears of a nuclear accident.