IAEA still working on Ukraine power plant plan despite Putin bluster

FILE PHOTO: A Russian all-terrain armoured vehicle is parked outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, September 1, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The head of the United Nations atomic agency said on Wednesday he would not abandon a plan to create a protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant despite Russian plans to mobilize new troops and hold a referendum in the region.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the site of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant that has damaged buildings close to its six reactors and risked nuclear catastrophe, including by cutting power lines essential to cooling fuel in the reactors even though they are all shut down.