Ukraine has blamed Russian shelling for the loss of external electricity supply to a nuclear power station on the frontline of their war, as Kyiv said the Kremlin was cutting energy flows to Europe to sow “poverty and political chaos” this winter.
Ukraine’s atomic energy operator, Energoatom, said “constant Russian shelling” of the plant in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region had disconnected its last main power line from the national grid and caused one of its two operating reactors to shut down.
Europe’s biggest nuclear plant still has an emergency line to a nearby thermal power station, however, and its one functioning reactor is generating enough power to support cooling and other essential functions at the facility, the firm said.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are assessing the safety of the six-reactor site, which is run by Ukrainian technicians under the guard of Russian forces who seized the area in March.
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Ukraine and Russia blame each other’s forces for shelling that has damaged the facility and fuelled fears of a radiation leak, and the Kremlin has rejected western calls to remove its troops from the site. Kyiv accuses Russian forces of using the plant as a “nuclear shield” from which it shells government-held towns and cities across the Dnieper river.
“I remain gravely concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ... but the continued presence of the IAEA will be of paramount importance in helping to stabilise the situation,” said IAEA director general Rafael Grossi.
It is not clear how long the IAEA inspectors will remain at the plant or what they will be allowed to see, as Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of trying to mislead and manipulate the mission.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in occupied Zaporizhzhia, said the inspectors might not leave as planned on Tuesday.
“A discussion on whether they might stay is really taking place. I personally see no obstacle to them staying and working,” he told Russian media.
Ukraine’s military continued to target command posts, fuel and arms depots and supply routes in occupied areas of the south over the weekend, as it aims to isolate and weaken Russian forces as part of a nascent counterattack in the region.
“Fierce fighting continues in many areas of the front,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“Ukrainian artillery is doing everything to destroy the strike potential of the occupiers, so that every Russian headquarters and all their ammunition depots, all logistical routes in the occupied territory are neutralised.”
He also said Russia was “preparing for a decisive energy attack on all Europeans”, after its big Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline did not come back online as planned on Saturday. Moscow has cut or reduced gas flow to several EU states in recent months.
“Russia wants to destroy the normal life of every European,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
“Where Russia cannot do it by force of conventional weapons, it does so by force of energy weapons. It is trying to attack with poverty and political chaos where it cannot yet attack with missiles.”
