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 last external power line but was still able to run electricity through a reserve line despite persistent shelling in the vicinity.
Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said in a statement that agency experts 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 earlier in the conflict.
The IAEA experts discovered, however, that the reserve line connecting the facility to a nearby 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 can also provide backup power to the facility.
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Planet Labs PBC / AP
Grossi stated, “We already have a better grasp of the reserve power line’s functionality in linking the plant to the grid.” This knowledge is essential for evaluating the overall situation there.
In addition, the plant’s management informed the IAEA that one reactor was shut down due to grid difficulties on Saturday afternoon. According to the statement, another reactor is still producing power for cooling and other important safety duties at the facility as well as for families, enterprises, and others via the grid.
The largest nuclear plant in Europe, located in Zaporizhzhia, has been seized by Russian forces since early March, although its Ukrainian crew continues to operate it.
The Russian-appointed municipal government in Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located, attributed the destruction of a vital power line on Saturday morning to a claimed Ukrainian artillery attack.
The municipal government announced on its official Telegram channel, “The distribution of electricity to the Ukrainian-controlled territory has been interrupted due to technical challenges.” It was unclear whether electricity from the plant still reached areas under Russian control.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the regional administration nominated by the Kremlin, stated via Telegram that a shell had struck a zone between two reactors. His assertions were not immediately verifiable.
Over the past few weeks, Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations regarding shelling at and around the plant, as well as attempts to thwart the visit of IAEA specialists whose duty is to safeguard the site. Grossi stated that their presence at the site “changes the game.”
Explosion in Ukraine within a few miles of a nuclear power plant around 00:34
Despite the presence of IAEA monitors, the Russian Defense Ministry reports that Ukrainian military attempted to take the plant again on Friday night, deploying 42 boats with 250 special forces men and foreign “mercenaries” to attempt a landing on the bank of the neighboring Kakhovka reservoir.
According to the ministry, four Russian fighter jets and two helicopter gunships destroyed approximately 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 wounded 23. The Russian assertions were incapable of independent verification.
Since last week, the facility has been regularly disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid, with Enerhoatom, the country’s nuclear energy operator, blaming mortar bombardment and fires near the site.
Local Ukrainian authorities 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 approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Zaporizhzhia plant, heard explosions on Friday.
Not the shelling, but the possibility of a radioactive leak in the plant, terrified them the most.
Natalia Stokoz, a mother of three, stated 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, remarked, “There is apprehension because we are so close.” According to Pasko, the Russian shelling has intensified over the past few weeks.
02:24 Ukraine launches a counteroffensive to recapture the southern Kherson region.
During the initial weeks of the conflict, authorities distributed iodine tablets and masks to those living near the nuclear power station in case they were exposed to radiation.
They have also recently provided iodine pills in the city of Zaporizhia, located approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the factory.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan volunteered to play the position of “facilitator” on the subject of the Zaporizhzhia plant, in a phone chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
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 forces withstood approximately six Russian strikes across the Donetsk region, including in two cities identified as crucial targets 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 forces have likely gained a degree of tactical surprise by exploiting inadequate logistics, administration, and leadership in the Russian armed forces.”
An 8-year-old child was killed and at least four others were injured by Russian shelling in a southern Ukrainian town close to the Kherson region, according to Ukrainian officials.
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