IAEA chief hopes to return to Ukraine 'soon' over nuclear plant talks

FILE PHOTO: IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks with journalists amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 13, 2022. REUTERS/Vladyslav Musiienko

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi expects to return "soon" to Ukraine, he told Reuters on Tuesday, amid negotiations to establish a security protection zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Grossi has been the go-between from Moscow to Kyiv in an effort to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant, which has been hit by power outages in the past weeks due to shelling of the site.