Dmitry Polyanskiy, first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations (UN), on Thursday called for a UN Security Council briefing on September 6 with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as briefers.

He said the call for the briefing was in light of "continued shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP)" and what he said were "Ukrainian attempts to derail the visit to the site of the IAEA mission."

According to the UN Security Council's current work planning, a meeting on "maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine" has already been scheduled for September 22.

On Thursday, the IAEA mission arrived at the Zaporizhzhia NPP for a long-awaited inspection as Russia and Ukraine continued to trade blame over shelling at the plant.

Russia's TASS news agency said on Thursday that the Zaporizhzhia NPP had switched to emergency mode due to attacks on Energodar where the plant is located, adding a thermal power plant located in close proximity to the nuclear power plant was also targeted by the Ukrainian forces.

But Ukrinform news agency reported that the Russian forces shelled Energodar with helicopters, guns and multiple launch rocket systems on Thursday morning despite the arrival of the IAEA mission.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday officially disbanded the Ukrainian delegation at a contact group seeking peace for eastern Ukraine.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine is a group of representatives from Ukraine, the Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe that was formed in 2014 as means to facilitate a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.