Russia cuts power supply from Zaporiyia nuclear power plant to Ukrainian grid

Latest news on the war pitting Russia and Ukraine.

Pro-Russian authorities in the town of Energodar, which hosts the Zaporiyia nuclear power plant, announced Saturday the suspension of power supply to the Ukrainian grid due to “technical difficulties.” The plant provides one-fifth of the country’s electricity consumption.

“Specialists stationed there have reported that due to technical characteristics the electricity generated by the reactors varies. Electricity supply to the Ukrainian-controlled territories has been suspended due to technical difficulties,” the pro-Russian pro-Russian civil-military administration of Enerdogar has indicated on its channel on Telegram, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

In particular, they denounce the damage caused by Ukrainian shelling which is already being attended to by specialists. They have reported damage to two of the power plant’s lines.

Reactors 5 and 6 of the plant continue to operate normally and about 900 to 1,000 megawatts are being generated. Radiation is at normal levels.

Later, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed the shutdown of the plant following the interruption of power on the last external line that remained in operation. The incident is similar to the one that occurred last week following the impact of several projectiles, the IAEA recalled.

Russian and Ukrainian authorities have accused each other of endangering the Zaporiyia power plant with artillery shelling and the IAEA has sent an inspection mission to assess the situation.

Just this Saturday Moscow has reported a nighttime attempted assault by Ukrainian forces on the nuclear power plant that was reportedly repelled and in which 47 members of the Ukrainian amphibious assault group were killed.

The Zaporiyia power plant is the largest in Europe and has six reactors commissioned between 1984 and 1995. It has been controlled by Russian forces since March of this year, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.