UN secretary general António Guterres has called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station after Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over the shelling of Europe’s largest commercial atomic facility at the weekend.

“Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing,” Guterres told a news conference in Japan on Monday.

Guterres said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needed access to the facility. “We fully support the IAEA in all their efforts in relation to create the conditions of stabilisation of the plant,” Guterres said.

Guterres’s comments follow expressions of “grave concern” by the IAEA’s director-general about shelling at Zaporizhzhia. Rafael Grossi stressed the “crucial importance” of the agency being able to send a mission of safety, security and safeguards experts to the site.