Russia has turned Europe's largest nuclear plant into a military base, but IAEA says there's no signs it rigged the reactors to explode

• The IAEA said Friday it found no evidence of explosives on the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.
• Ukrainian officials had reported seeing objects that could be mines on the top of plant's reactors.

The UN nuclear watchdog said Friday that it found no evidence that Russia has rigged Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

The organization added, however, that its experts could hear explosions in the area immediately surrounding Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, which it described as a "stark reminder" of the risks posed by fighting in the area.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed fears over the nuclear facility, suggesting that Russia might stage a nuclear disaster, similar to the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June.

In an address early last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country's intelligence services had spotted "objects resembling explosives" on the roofs of some of the Zaporizhzhya plant's reactors.

Days later, IAEA experts said they had seen no visible evidence of explosives on the plant itself, but stressed that they had not been provided access to the roofs in question.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Friday said that he was pleased that inspectors had "finally" been granted that access, which came just as a new team of experts had arrived at the facility. However, he said IAEA inspectors were reminded of the risks facing the plant, which Russia occupied soon after its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On the night before they were provided access to the roof of the plant, IAEA experts reported hearing a "series of detonations in the vicinity of the plant." Officials at the plant asserted that "there was no impact on the site," the group said. The explosions came after the IAEA late last month said that Russia had surrounded the plant with landmines, a move that its experts were told was a "military decision."

Grossi said the detonations serve as a reminder of the ongoing risks posed by the military occupation of the facility. Last week, Ukrainian forces began a push against Russian front lines in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Kyiv hopes to reclaim as part of its ongoing counteroffensive.

"I reiterate my call on all sides to refrain from any action that could lead to a nuclear accident with potential consequences for public health and the environment," he said.

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