Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the shelling.

Putin said he "certainly trusts" a report published Tuesday by the UN atomic watchdog following a visit to the plant, in which it recommended the creation of a safe zone around Europe's largest nuclear facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency "is a very responsible international organisation, they are of course, under pressure from the countries where they work: the US, the EU, and they cannot say that the shelling comes from the Ukrainian side," Putin said.

"The IAEA writes that it is necessary to remove military equipment from the territory of the station. But there is no miliary equipment on the territory of the station," Putin told the Eastern Economic Forum in the Pacific city of Vladivostok.

He also rebuffed accusations that Moscow was shelling the plant.

"Our servicemen are there, are we shooting at our own?" Putin said, accusing Ukraine of creating "threats to undermine nuclear security".

"What is the point of creating threats to the whole of Europe? But they do it," he said.

Last week, a 14-strong team from the IAEA visited Zaporizhzhia, with the UN nuclear watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi saying the site had been damaged in fighting.

Two members of the team are expected to remain there on a permanent basis to monitor the plant's safety.