Saturday, the director of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said that the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor in Ukraine had been cut from its final external power connection but was still able to run electricity via a backup line despite persistent bombardment in the vicinity.
Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said in a statement that agency specialists who arrived in Zaporizhzhia on Thursday were informed by senior Ukrainian employees that the fourth and final operational line was down. The remaining three were lost early in the fight.
The IAEA specialists discovered, however, that the reserve line connecting the facility to a neighboring thermal power plant was transmitting the plant’s output to the external grid, according to the statement. In the event of an emergency, the same reserve line may also supply backup power to the facility.
This satellite picture from Planet Labs PBC shows Russian soldiers occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Planet Labs PBC / AP
Grossi said, “We already have a better grasp of the reserve power line’s functioning in linking the plant to the grid.” This knowledge is essential for evaluating the overall situation there.
In addition, the plant’s management told the IAEA that one reactor was shut down due to grid difficulties on Saturday afternoon. According to the statement, another reactor is still providing power for cooling and other important safety duties at the facility as well as for families, enterprises, and others through the grid.
The biggest nuclear plant in Europe, located in Zaporizhzhia, has been seized by Russian troops since early March, although its Ukrainian crew continues to run it.
The Russian-appointed municipal government in Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia facility is situated, attributed the destruction of a vital power line on Saturday morning to a claimed Ukrainian artillery strike.
The municipal government said on its official Telegram channel, “The distribution of power to the Ukrainian-controlled territory has been interrupted owing to technical challenges.” It was unclear if energy from the facility still reached regions under Russian control.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the regional administration nominated by the Kremlin, said through Telegram that a shell had hit a zone between two reactors. His assertions were not readily verifiable.
Over the last several weeks, Ukraine and Russia have swapped accusations over shelling at and around the facility, as well as attempts to thwart the arrival of IAEA specialists whose duty is to safeguard the site. Grossi said that their presence at the venue “changes the game.”
Explosion in Ukraine within a few kilometers of a nuclear power facility around 00:34
Despite the presence of IAEA monitors, the Russian Defense Ministry reports that Ukrainian military attempted to take the facility again on Friday night, deploying 42 boats with 250 special forces men and foreign “mercenaries” to make a landing on the bank of the neighboring Kakhovka reservoir.
According to the ministry, four Russian fighter aircraft and two helicopter gunships destroyed around 20 vessels, while the remainder retreated. Russian artillery targeted the fleeing landing group by striking the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the Dnieper River.
The Russian military allegedly killed 47 men, including 10 “mercenaries,” and injured 23. The Russian assertions were incapable of independent verification.
Since last week, the facility has been regularly disconnected from Ukraine’s power system, with Enerhoatom, the country’s nuclear energy operator, blaming mortar bombardment and fires near the site.
Local Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of launching rockets at two cities overlooking the facility on the other side of the Dnieper River, a charge they have made regularly in recent weeks.
Residents of Zorya, a tiny community located around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Zaporizhzhia facility, heard explosions on Friday.
Not the shelling, but the possibility of a radioactive leak at the facility, terrified them the most.
Natalia Stokoz, a mother of three, said that the power plant was the scariest place. Because children and adults will be impacted, and it’s frightening if the nuclear power station explodes.
Oleksandr Pasko, a 31-year-old farmer, said, “There is apprehension since we are so near.” According to Pasko, the Russian shelling has escalated over the last several weeks.
02:24 Ukraine launches a counteroffensive to recapture the southern Kherson area.
During the initial weeks of the conflict, officials distributed iodine pills and masks to those living near the nuclear power station in case they were exposed to radiation.
They have also recently provided iodine tablets in the city of Zaporizhia, located around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the factory.
In a phone chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan volunteered to act as a “mediator” about the Zaporizhzhia facility, according to a statement from the Turkish president.
The Ukrainian military reported on Saturday morning that Russian forces pushed their stalled advance in the industrial east of the country overnight, while also attempting to hold on to areas captured in Ukraine’s northeast and south, including the Kherson region cited as the target of Kyiv’s recent counteroffensive.
It said that Ukrainian troops withstood around six Russian strikes throughout the Donetsk area, including in two cities identified as crucial objectives of Moscow’s arduous campaign to seize the remainder of the province. Along with Luhansk, which was captured by Russian soldiers in early July, Donetsk is one of two regions that comprise the industrial core of Ukraine, the Donbas.
Separately, the British military confirmed in its Saturday morning update that Ukrainian forces were conducting “reinvigorated offensive operations” in the south of the country, advancing along a broad front west of the Dnieper and concentrating on three axes within the Russian-occupied Kherson region.
The U.K. defense ministry stated, “The operation has limited immediate aims, but Ukraine’s troops have likely gained a degree of tactical surprise by exploiting inadequate logistics, administration, and leadership in the Russian armed forces.”
An 8-year-old kid was murdered and at least four people were injured by Russian shelling in a southern Ukrainian town near to the Kherson area, according to Ukrainian authorities.
More