On Tuesday, experts from the UN’s nuclear energy agency were inspecting two sites where Russia made baseless claims that Ukraine is building dirty bombs.

Inspections have already begun at two locations in Ukraine and will be completed soon, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement. Kyiv called for inspections after Russia’s accusations.

Senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have baselessly accused Ukraine of preparing to use a so-called dirty bomb, a type of explosive that contains radioactive material.

In a letter to Security Council members last week, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, said Ukrainian nuclear research facilities and mining companies had received direct orders from Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s regime, to develop dirty bombs.

Western countries immediately denied the unsubstantiated claim, saying it is clearly false. Ukrainian authorities see it as an attempt to divert attention from Moscow’s own plans to detonate dirty bombs to justify escalating hostilities.

The IAEA said both sites under investigation are under IAEA safeguards and are regularly visited by IAEA inspectors tasked with detecting undeclared nuclear activity and links to dirty bomb development s material.

The IAEA inspected one of the two sites a month ago and found no undeclared nuclear activity or material there, the IAEA said in a statement on Monday.

In another development, four Russian missiles hit the southern city of Mykolaiv around midnight, killing one person and destroying several buildings, Mykolaiv Governor Vitali Kim said on Telegram.

Poltava Governor Dmitro Lunin said on Telegram that an explosion occurred early Tuesday in the city of Poltava in northeastern Ukraine. Lunin said four Russian drones crashed into civilian buildings in the city, setting off a fire. Three other drones were shot down. No casualties were reported.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentin Reznichenko said Russia shelled the southeastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol and nearby Mahanek overnight. About 40 shells hit Nikopol across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, destroying 14 residential buildings, a kindergarten, a pharmacy, a bank and several shops, the official said.

In Marhanets, blackouts at damaged power lines and pumping stations left about 40,000 households without running water and 10,000 without electricity, according to Reznichenko. Power and water were restored in the morning.

Ukraine on Tuesday was still grappling with the aftermath of Monday’s massive strike in Russia that disrupted power and water supplies in several Ukrainian cities and villages.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said authorities had restored power and running water to residential buildings in Kyiv, but the Ukrainian capital would remain without power due to a severe power shortage.

In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, subway service was suspended again on Tuesday, according to the Metro Telegram page. No reason for suspension was given.

In the occupied Kherson region, Russian authorities tried to evacuate up to 70,000 people living within 15 kilometres (9 miles) of the Dnieper River in response to a Ukrainian counteroffensive. The work began Tuesday morning, according to the Kremlin-appointed governor of the region, Vladimir Saldo.

In Russia, the regular fall draft begins on Tuesday, with 120,000 men expected to be selected over the next two months. Russian military officials have assured that conscripts will not be sent to fight in Ukraine, including in annexed areas.

Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied Ukraine regions means all fighting takes place in areas claimed by the Kremlin as Russian territory, so the report said that conscripts will almost certainly be in March or April 2023. Left and right are deployed to Ukraine after completing training and can be deployed more quickly to respond to changes on the battlefield.

The fall draft, originally scheduled to begin in October, was delayed by a month due to a partial mobilisation of 300,000 people, announced Monday. Critics of the Kremlin have warned that recruiting could resume after the fall draft and that recruiting offices could be freed from dealing with candidates.