U.N. watchdog appeals for access to Ukrainian nuclear plant - paper

FILE PHOTO: Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is seen from an embankment of the Dnipro river in the town of Nikopol, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Dmytro Smolienko

ZURICH (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger.Contact with the Europe's largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians, was "fragile" and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told Swiss paper Tages-Anzeiger.

"We can't afford faulty communication with the plant in areas relevant to safety. We know of allegations that live ammunition is stored in the plant, that there are attacks on the power plant," he said in interview published in German.