UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine must "urgently" be demilitarized.
Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the complex.
"Agreement is urgently needed to reestablish Zaporizhzhia as purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the safety of the area," Guterres said at talks in Lviv alongside President Volodymr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelenskyy and the UN chief agreed Thursday on arrangements for an IAEA mission to the plant, according to the president's website.
But it was not immediately clear whether the Kremlin would consent to the terms.
As for a pullout of troops, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said earlier that would leave the plant “vulnerable."
Fears mounted Thursday when Russian and Ukrainian authorities accused each other of plotting to attack the site and then blame the other side.
Late Thursday, multiple rounds of Ukrainian shelling struck the city in which the power plant is local, a Russian official reported.
Guterres also used the talks in Lviv to name Gen. Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil to lead a previously announced UN fact-finding mission to the Olenivka prison where 53 Ukrainian POWs were killed in an explosion in July.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the blast.
Also on the agenda Thursday: an increase in grain exports.
Earlier this summer, the U.N. and Turkey brokered an agreement clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck in its Black Sea ports since the Russian invasion.
The blockage has worsened world food shortages, driven up prices and heightened fears of famine, especially in Africa.
Yet even with the deal, only a trickle of Ukrainian grain has made it out - some 600,000 tons by Turkey's estimate.
Guterres touted the operation's success but added it would take time before the shipments would make a difference in the daily lives of people in need.
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