LIVE UPDATES: Ukrainian Troops’ Attack on Energodar Repelled

According to Rogov, Ukrainian troops have intensified attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant ahead of the results of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) inspection of the plant. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who visited the plant earlier this week, is expected to present a report to the agency's board of governors on the situation at the Zaporozhye NPP early next week.

He added that aviation was involved in rebuffing the Ukrainian paratroopers.

"The radiation levels are normal," Rogov said.

Ukrainian troops have been shelling the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant for the past two hours, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye region's administration, said.

"The Zaporozhye NPP is again under fire from Zelensky's militants! Over the past two hours, at least four 'heavy' hits in the area of the Zaporizhzhia NPP," Rogov said on Telegram.

"We are getting the information all the time. Well, we have been getting it from the very beginning, and now we are trying to have an in-depth assessment of how things stand at the moment. I expect to produce a report early next week, as soon as we have full picture of the situation by the end of the weekend," Grossi told reporters upon his arrival in Vienna.

"We have seen military activity around the plant, and I was able to see — myself and my team — impact, holes, markings on buildings of shelling. So, it means that the physical integrity of the facility has been violated not once, but several times," Grossi told reporters upon arrival in Vienna.

"We welcome the ability of the IAEA, these two inspectors, to stay at the plant and keep us posted on the developments as they see them from there," Kaneko told a briefing.

The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, is supposed to hold a press briefing to share more information once he returns to Vienna, she added.

Russian servicemen shot down an attack drone of Ukrainian troops in the area of ​​the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the administration of Energodar told Sputnik.

"An Ukrainian armed forces drone with a warhead was shot down today in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. The projectile did not detonate. Ukrainian militants apparently continue to try to attack the station, despite the fact that there are IAEA employees there," the administration said.

The UAV was shot down a few hundred meters from the station, it added.

A Sputnik correspondent reported that it was quiet in Energodar on Friday, there were no shelling of residential areas.

The Biden administration will also ask Congress to approve $11.7 billion in economic and security assistance for Ukraine in early 2023, the White House added.

"President Biden has been clear that the United States is committed to continuing to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty. To deliver on that commitment and meet immediate needs, we are requesting $11.7 billion for security and economic assistance for the first quarter of FY 2023," the White House said in a press release.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian army admitted that the Ukrainian troops had launched strikes in the Energodar area, where the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is located.

"It has been confirmed that in the areas of the settlements of Kherson and Energodar, three enemy artillery systems were destroyed by precise strikes of our troops," the general staff said on Facebook (banned in Russia as an extremist organization).

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told reporters that it was planned to convince all EU members of the need to join a coalition to introduce a cap on Russian oil prices — the larger the coalition, the faster the result will be achieved.

"We agreed today that we will create a coalition, we want to convince all EU members in addition to the G7 members to join it," he said following the adoption of the G7 statement.

"The larger this coalition to limit prices, the faster we will probably get good results," Lindner said.

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia would not supply oil to countries that would join the agreement on oil price cap.