The visit by Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) could improve the situation there, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said on Wednesday.

"We call on all countries to continue pressuring the Ukrainian authorities to stop the nuclear outrage and prevent them from bringing about a disaster fraught with grave consequences," she said.

The IAEA mission, led by Grossi, left Kyiv on Wednesday for the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The IAEA experts are expected to arrive on Thursday morning, Russia's TASS news agency said. 

Before setting off for Zaporizhzhia, Grossi on Wednesday said that the IAEA hoped to set up a permanent mission at the plant. 

Russia later said it welcomed the idea. "The IAEA Director General Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed today his plans to establish permanent presence of Agency's specialists at the ZNPP. Russia welcomes this intention," Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's representative to the international organizations in Vienna, tweeted.

Russia and Ukraine have been trading blame in recent weeks over shelling of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which at one point led to a power outage, as well as provocations on the paths along which the IAEA mission representatives are supposed to travel.

Russian media on Wednesday also reported that a group of Ukrainian saboteurs preparing a terrorist act at the plant was detained, citing Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporizhzhia region military-civil administration.

The Ukrainian side did not immediately comment on the Russian report.