Ukraine one step from nuclear disaster as Russian occupied plant ‘goes offline AGAIN & shell lands between reactors’

UKRAINE is just one step away from a nuclear disaster after Europe's biggest nuclear power plant was reportedly knocked off the grid again.

Russian authorities claimed the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine went offline in the early hours of Saturday after heavy bombing destroyed a key power line.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukrainian forces tried once again to capture the Russia-held plant in an assault on Friday night.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Kremlin-appointed regional administration, said the site came under heavy fire for about two hours and a shell landed between two reactors.

"The Dneprovskaya power line has been hit. The nuclear power plant has switched to servicing its own needs," he said on Telegram.

The defence ministry said a Ukrainian naval force of more than 250 troops attempted to land on the coast of a lake near the plant at 11pm local time.

Russia claimed its forces foiled the attack with strikes from military helicopters and fighter jets - destroying 20 Ukrainian vessels and causing others to scatter and call off the attack.

The claims came after a team of inspectors from the UN nuclear agency arrived at the site, which has been caught in fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Ukraine's state nuclear company said only one of the station's six reactors now remains in operation.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) added that the plant is now relying on a reserve line to supply power to Ukraine's grid.

The plant was disconnected from the grid for the first time ever last week after fire damage to overhead power lines from heavy shelling.

Kyiv and Moscow have continued to blame each other for attacks on the power plant.

The plant was captured by Russian forces in March in the early days of the war - but it is still connected to the Ukrainian power grid and operated by Ukrainian workers.

Ukrainian authorities have accused Moscow of pounding two cities that overlook the facility across the Dnieper river with rockets.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said it had carried out its own strikes against Russian positions in Enerhodar, which lies just miles from the nuclear plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent a mission to the nuclear plant this week amid concerns an escalation could trigger a Chornobyl-style nuclear disaster on the European continent.

The IAEA's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi pointed to the growing dangers of the ongoing fighting after he led his team through the site.

He said: "There were moments when fire was obvious heavy machine guns, artillery, mortars at two or three times were really very concerning, I would say, for all of us."

Grossi added the integrity of the plant had been "violated several times".

Robert Mardini, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, has warned that fighting must be halted immediately before a "massive incident" sparks a catastrophe.

Mardini told a news conference: ";In the event of a nuclear leak, it will be difficult if not impossible to provide humanitarian assistance...and this is why fighting should stop.

"It is therefore time to stop playing with fire and instead take concrete measures to protect this facility, and others like it, from military any operations.

"The slightest miscalculation could trigger devastation that we will regret for decades."

He added: "The scenario could be a massive incident, and there is very little anyone can do to mitigate the dire consequences of this."

Ukraine and the West have said Russia is using the site as a base for heavy weapons in a move to discourage Ukraine from firing on it.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu denied Russia had heavy weapons at the power plant and accused Ukraine of committing "nuclear terrorism" by attacking the site.

It comes after residents in areas at risk of a radiation leak have been advised to prepare supplies such as food, water, clothes, valuables and documents.

Iodine tablets have been dished out to residents living near the plant amid fears that the site could be the scene of a catastrophic nuclear disaster.

Zaporizhzhia's reactors are protected by thick, reinforced concrete domes that experts say can withstand shelling.

But many of the radiation fears centre on a possible loss of the cooling system - and the risk that an attack on the cooling ponds where spent fuel rods are kept could scatter radioactive material.

The Kremlin has called for a UN Security Council meeting on September 6 to address the situation at Zaporizhzhia.