France, Nov. 20 -- The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has called for an end to fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, after powerful explosionswere recorded in the area over the weekend.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that two explosions - one on Saturday and the other Sunday morning - near the Zaporizhzhia plant had abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the Russian-occupied nuclear facility.

Monitors from the IAEA team at the facility reported hearing more than a dozen blasts within a short period Sunday morning. Some of the explosions were visible from their windows.

Several buildings, systems and equipment at the power plant were damaged, ...