Russia has been occupying Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant for months. Grenades keep hitting the site. Now the Kremlin wants to enforce a protection zone – albeit on its own terms.
The Russian nuclear authority Rosatom has spoken out in favor of setting up a protection zone around the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine – albeit on Moscow terms. “We believe in it, we need it, the parameters are clear and there was a conversation with Rafael Grossi (head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA),” said the head of the agency, Alexei Likhachev, according to the Interfax news agency.
Likhachev also stated how he imagined the protection zone: According to this, Ukraine should neither shell the area nor try to recapture it. “In return, it is clear that Russia is not stationing offensive weapons and forces there, but only uses means of physical protection and guarding of the facility,” said the head of the nuclear agency. At the same time, the Rosatom director announced that all the electrical lines around the nuclear facility were damaged. Shutting down the reactor to the cold state only offers “relative safety,” he warned.
The Russian ideas for a protection zone differ significantly from the demands of the IAEA. A week ago, Moscow asked them to give up the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant. Ukraine is also demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops. For months, Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the facility.
Further north, the three Ukrainian nuclear power plants that were disconnected from the power grid after Russian attacks have now been connected to the grid again. The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy announced on Telegram that it was possible to reconnect the three plants controlled by Ukraine in the morning. The nuclear power plants should therefore supply electricity again from the evening.
On Wednesday, the state operator Energoatom declared on Telegram that the emergency system of the three nuclear power plants Rivne, Pivdennoukrainsk and Khmelnytska had been activated as a result of the Russian shelling. As a result, all reactors were automatically disconnected from the power grid. As a result, there was a complete power outage in the Kyiv region. More than two thirds of the Ukrainian capital were without electricity – and that in freezing temperatures. During the night the values ??fell below zero degrees Celsius, there is already snow and the roads are icy.
