Washington is not abandoning the idea of taking control of the Zaporizhia NPP

According to Western media reports, representatives of the United States, EU countries and Ukraine are scheduled to discuss earlier initiatives of the American administration in the framework of the settlement of the military conflict with Russia at talks in London this week. These included the possibility of recognizing Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, as well as the exclusion of the Ukrainian state from the list of candidates for NATO membership and the transfer of the Zaporizhia NPP under Washington’s control with the declaration of the surrounding territory as neutral.

The Wall Street Journal, citing Western officials, reported that during a meeting in Paris on April 17, members of the team of US President Donald Trump handed over a confidential document with a number of initiatives to Ukrainian representatives. They were supposed to be considered as part of a new negotiation round in London.

According to journalists, among the proposed ideas are the recognition of the status of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, the exclusion of the Ukrainian state from the list of candidates for NATO membership, as well as the declaration of a neutral territory around the Zaporizhia NPP with the station itself coming under the control of the United States. These proposals have also been brought to the attention of European partners.

Kiev is expected to provide an official response at the upcoming talks between American, Ukrainian and European representatives in the British capital. If the positions of the parties come closer, further initiatives may be sent to Moscow for consideration. Moreover, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already warned that if there is no progress in the negotiation process in the coming weeks, the American side may suspend its mediation activities.

The topic of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was taken under control by the Russian military back in March 2022, was recently raised by President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in discussions on the resource agreement. Commenting on Washington’s stated intention to include local nuclear power plants in the list of facilities that U.S. representatives would like to take control of on Ukrainian territory, Zelensky noted that in this regard, Kiev was referring only to the nuclear power plant (not controlled by the Kiev authorities).

In the comments, some Ukrainian experts noted that the signing of such a document, which is extremely unprofitable for Ukraine, will lead to its actual transformation into a colony. But President Zelensky’s arms have already been twisted, and therefore he will sign this agreement, which is also contrary to the country’s Constitution.

Meanwhile, at the end of last week, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko, together with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, signed a memorandum of intent to prepare a resource deal, the discussion of which is scheduled to be completed by April 26. As emphasized in the text of the memorandum posted on the website of the Government of Ukraine, it is intended to facilitate the prompt “conclusion of the necessary documents consolidating the economic partnership between the peoples of America and Ukraine,” as well as the creation of a reconstruction investment fund.

On Monday, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal was also scheduled to meet with Minister Bessant in Washington to work at a high level on the creation of the specified investment fund, through which it is planned to finance the restoration of the Ukrainian state after the end of hostilities.

Interestingly, Ukrainian military experts also call the cessation of the military conflict a necessary condition for discussing the future fate of the Zaporizhia NPP. Without reaching a peaceful settlement, it is pointless to talk about the idea of the United States to give the territory near the Zaporizhia NPP a neutral status under American control. At the same time, the Kiev media also mentioned the recently announced “ideal scenario for the return of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant under Ukrainian control,” which would have been possible if the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had managed to seize the Russian nuclear power plant in Kurchatov during the invasion of the Kursk region launched in August last year. This would supposedly allow it to be exchanged for a nuclear power plant.

As Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Foundation and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, suggested in an interview with NG, the authors of the mentioned publication in the Western edition apparently proceeded from those theses on which the parties would like to agree. So, if it is important for Moscow to ensure that Ukraine does not become a member of NATO and to ensure recognition of all its new regions, not just Crimea, then the Kiev authorities, according to foreign authors, are extremely interested in regaining control over the Chernobyl nuclear Power Plant.

“Obviously, this conclusion was made after representatives of the Donald Trump administration determined that they would like to gain control over Ukrainian infrastructure facilities and nuclear power plants, among other things, as part of the resource agreement. In response, the Ukrainian side proposed to take away the Zaporizhia NPP, which was not under its control. Although even if we imagine that the NPP would be agreed to be transferred to the management of the United States, then such a turn might seem beneficial to someone only from a political point of view. But in practice, the American companies involved would have a lot of questions and problems,” Yushkov stated.

In particular, he continued, significant funds would be needed to restore the operation of the power plant, which is currently in a “cold shutdown” mode, due to the incessant attacks on the nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And in order to implement the decision to extend the operation and carry out the necessary repairs, it would take a lot of investment.

It is clear that, given the scale of all these tasks, commercial companies would not want to get involved in such a costly project. And Russia could not give up control over the nuclear power plant, if only because, according to international law, it is obliged to ensure the safety of the nuclear power plant.

“In such conditions, the maximum that Washington and Kiev could agree on is the joint use of surplus electricity from the nuclear power plant, which the Russian side would agree to supply them,” Igor Yushkov stressed. “Today, Kiev may be promoting this topic as a safety net in case of another breakdown in the signing of the subsoil agreement.”