The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog is to visit an atomic power station in Kursk, south-west Russia, saying he is taking “very seriously” the risk that the facility could be damaged during Ukraine’s incursion into the region.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Financial Times in an interview that the Kursk plant was “technically within artillery range” of Ukrainian positions. “And since there is combat, I’m very concerned.”

Grossi said he would visit Kursk next week to talk to its managers and gather any evidence of whether it had already been targeted. He also wanted to assess the state of external power supply and access routes to the plant, noting the recent Ukrainian destruction of bridges across the Seym river in the west of the region.