UN inspectors poised to visit Ukraine nuclear plant

Grossi also said they had been informed by Ukraine's government that infrastructure at the site had been damaged due to shelling over the past three days.

"These incidents show why the IAEA must be able to send a mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant very soon," he said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday also said that a Ukrainian worker and his driver were killed by mortar strikes outside the Zaporizhzhia plant.

The deaths further underscore fears that Russia will sharply increase its war campaign against Ukraine on the day Kyiv celebrates its independence from its former Soviet-era masters some 31 years ago.

The day also marks six months since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, which has created a refugee exodus of over 6.6 million Ukrainians and killed thousands of civilians.

The US state department has also told all US citizens to leave the country, following intelligence that Russia aims to launch strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.

The warning comes as the US is set to announce another $3bn [€3bn] towards Ukraine's war effort against Russian occupying forces, officials told the Associated Press.

Germany has also said it will send Ukraine in 2023 more than €500m in weapons, including Iris-T air defence systems.