Zelensky Describes Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Conditions as “Severe
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Al Jazeera, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as “critical” amid a seventh consecutive day without electricity.
Zelensky said: “It has now been seven days. This is unprecedented. One of the diesel generators supplying emergency power to the plant has failed.”
He claimed that Russian bombardment caused the plant’s disconnection from the power grid, calling it “a threat to everyone.” He added, “no terrorist in history has dared do what Russia is doing with a nuclear power plant!”
This current outage marks the longest interruption of electricity supply to Zaporizhzhia as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. it is indeed also the tenth time as then that Europe’s largest nuclear facility has lost connection to the power grid.
Zelensky’s allegations come while Moscow seized control of Zaporizhzhia during early weeks of the war. According to al jazeera, all six reactors-which before the conflict supplied about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity-have been shut down since Russian forces took over.
Still, continuous power remains vital for operating cooling and safety systems that prevent reactor meltdowns-a risk that could trigger a nuclear disaster.
both Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of provoking a potential nuclear catastrophe through attacks on Zaporizhzhia and blamed one another for recent outages.
This week, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), condemned external electrical supply cuts to Zaporizhzhia but refrained from blaming either side.