Ukraine says Russian shelling continues near nuclear plant despite UN warning of 'catastrophic' event

Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling in the area of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is continuing to rage on despite a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday warning about potential "catastrophic" damage taking place at the site.

The city of Nikopol, located on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, was fired on with rockets and heavy artillery, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said on Wednesday.

"There are fires, blackouts and other things at the (plant) that force us to prepare the local population for the consequences of the nuclear danger," Reznichenko said. Officials in recent days have distributed iodine pills to residents to help protect them in the event of a radiation leak.

Reports of the shelling, which could not be independently verified by The Associated Press, come the day after IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi presented a report to the United Nations warning about the potential danger of the nuclear site being compromised by shelling.

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"We are playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could take place," Grossi said.

The U.N. atomic watchdog agency urged Russia and Ukraine to establish a "nuclear safety and security protection zone" around the plant.

Neither Moscow nor Kiev officials would immediately commit to the idea of a safety zone, saying more details of the proposal were needed.

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Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of targeting the nuclear power plant, though the IAEA report did not clarify who is responsible for the attacks on the ZNPP.

The shelling around the plant and a fire that caused it to be taken offline on Monday have experts worried about a potential nuclear disaster at the plant, one of the ten biggest nuclear plants in the world. 

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Experts say its reactors are designed to protect against natural disasters and incidents such as aircraft crashes, but leaders around the world have appealed for it to be spared in the fighting because of the risk of a catastrophe.

"Let's seize this opportunity so fundamental for peace, for security, and to protect the populations of Ukraine and beyond," Grossi said on Tuesday while calling for a safety zone around the plant.

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Rebekah Koffler, a former U.S. DIA intelligence officer focused on Russia and the author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America," told Fox News Digital that ZNPP provides Ukraine with 20% of its energy and Russia would benefit strategically if it were to be taken offline for a long period of time heading into the winter.

"Decommissioning the ZNPP temporarily to disconnect it from the Ukrainian power grid and reconnect it to the Russian grid would allow Russia to have control over it, so they can keep the power in Russia-controlled territories and keep it on and off in other regions of Ukraine," Koffler said. "This is part of an asymmetric strategy to keep pressure on Ukraine's civilian population to degrade the will to fight and surrender."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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