France's Macron: underlined to Ukraine's Zelenskiy concerns over nuclear risks

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron underlined to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy his concerns over risks to the country's nuclear facilities, during a phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday, said the French presidency.

Macron added that he backed a proposal by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog for a mission to be sent to Ukraine to examine the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Attention has focused in recent days on shelling in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine. Both sides have blamed each other for risks to Europe's largest nuclear facility, which Russia has seized although Ukrainian technicians operate it.

Zelenskiy had earlier said that he had discussed "Russia's nuclear terrorism" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine during a call on Tuesday with Macron.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Tassilo Hummel, editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)