International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said it was of "paramount importance" to assist Ukraine in ensuring safety in the area - it follows footage of what appears to have been trenches dug by Russian forces in contaminated land in the exclusion zone.

Following the departure of the Russian forces, the site and its surroundings are being checked for safety, and the radiation situation assessed, Ukraine says.

In a joint statement, the European Nuclear Society and the American Nuclear Society call for an end to further hostilities at any nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine and "denounce misinformation spread by any party regarding the safety status of nuclear facilities".

The staff currently working at Chernobyl have been on site for two weeks, but following the departure of Russian forces, Ukraine said it was preparing to bring in a new shift.

Latest updates, 1 April:
• Ukraine says Russian forces, who took control of Chernobyl on 24 February, have left and handed it back to Ukraine
• IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi holds talks in Kaliningrad with Russian officials about nuclear safety in Ukraine
• He says he will head an IAEA "assistance and support mission" mission to Chernobyl "as soon as possible"
• Director general says the IAEA has agreed a safety framework, agreed separately with Ukraine and with Russia
• The World Association of Nuclear Operators has transferred Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom from its Moscow to its Paris centre

A shipment of plutonium accumulated from inspection samples collected in support of the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards mission has been removed from the agency's laboratory in Austria to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA.

The ten experts focused on aspects essential to safe Long Term Operation of the two units at South Africa's nuclear power plant - operator Eskom wants to extend their lives by 20 years to 2045, which will give a total operational lifetime of 60 years.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said during a visit to the South Ukraine nuclear power plant that "nothing that happens here will be unnoticed, because the IAEA will be here to support you and say whenever there is a problem".

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is in Ukraine to "start delivering" the safety and security assistance Ukraine has requested for the country's nuclear facilities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that the staff who volunteered to replace the workers who had been on-site for 25 days, have now themselves been there for nearly a week.