Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says situation ‘critical’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukrainian person says the works has been without powerfulness for 7 days, the longest agelong since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the concern astatine the Zaporizhzhia atomic powerfulness works is “critical” arsenic the installation has been without powerfulness for 7 days.

“It has been 7 days now. There has ne'er been thing similar this before,” Zelenskyy said successful his nightly code connected Tuesday.

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One of the diesel generators providing exigency powerfulness to the works is nary longer working, Zelenskyy said, a week aft outer powerfulness lines went down.

“Russian shelling has chopped the works disconnected from the energy network,” the Ukrainian person said.

“This is simply a menace to everyone. No violent successful the satellite has ever dared to bash with a atomic powerfulness works what Russia is doing now.”

The outage is the longest the Russian-occupied works has gone without powerfulness since Moscow’s full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022.

It is besides the 10th clip since the commencement of the warfare that the works – the largest successful Europe – has been disconnected from the powerfulness grid.

Russia seized power of Zaporizhzhia successful the archetypal weeks of the war, and the plant’s six reactors, which earlier the struggle produced astir one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity, were unopen down aft Moscow took over.

But the plant needs powerfulness to support cooling and information systems, which forestall reactors from melting – a information that could acceptable disconnected a atomic incident.

[Al Jazeera]

Russian officials person not commented connected the latest statements connected conditions astatine the plant.

But Moscow and Kyiv person repeatedly accused each different of risking a perchance devastating atomic catastrophe by attacking the site, and person traded blasted implicit the latest blackout.

Rafael Grossi, the caput of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’s atomic watchdog, earlier this week decried the cutoff of the outer powerfulness lines but assigned nary blasted to either side.

In a connection connected Tuesday, Grossi said helium was engaging with officials from some countries to reconstruct offsite powerfulness to Zaporizhzhia arsenic soon arsenic possible.

“I’m successful changeless interaction with the 2 sides with the purpose to alteration the plant’s swift re-connection to the energy grid,” the IAEA main said.

“While the works is presently coping acknowledgment to its exigency diesel generators – the past enactment of defence – and determination is nary contiguous information arsenic agelong arsenic they support working, it is intelligibly not a sustainable concern successful presumption of atomic safety,” helium added.

“Neither broadside would payment from a atomic accident.”

IAEA monitors are stationed permanently astatine Zaporizhzhia and astatine Ukraine’s 3 different atomic powerfulness stations.

The IAEA is engaging with some sides of the subject struggle to assistance pave the mode for the restoration of offsite powerfulness to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya NPP arsenic soon arsenic possible, Director General @rafaelmgrossi said today: https://t.co/ODSjkR6fXd pic.twitter.com/SbWEh7TBCq

— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) September 30, 2025