Nuclear Fears Rise at Zaporizhzhia Plant After 10th Blackout

The European Union has demanded that Moscow return control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to Kyiv, following a new crisis at the facility. For the tenth time since the conflict began, the plant has lost its external power supply, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators. The EU’s diplomatic service highlighted the grave danger, noting the plant has been on backup power for seven days, creating severe risks for reactor cooling and other critical safety systems and threatening a nuclear catastrophe with global consequences.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation as “critical” in a video address, revealing that one of the backup generators has already failed. He stressed that the plant’s systems were never designed for such prolonged operation in this mode and accused Russia of actively preventing repair crews from accessing and restoring the main power lines.

The Kremlin has firmly rejected these allegations. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “foolish to accuse the Russian side of bombing a station that it controls,” instead blaming the Ukrainian Armed Forces for the regular attacks on the plant and its infrastructure. He asserted that Russian specialists are doing everything possible to maintain safety and are in constant contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed that the agency is engaged with both parties, working to restore external power to the plant as soon as possible. The current emergency comes after Grossi previously stated he considered it unsafe to restart the plant’s reactors amid a full-scale war, despite earlier reports that Moscow planned to connect the ZNPP to Russia’s power grid.

Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at Russia’s National Energy Security Fund, offered a strategic perspective on the escalation. He suggested that Kyiv might be deliberately targeting energy infrastructure to prolong the conflict, which he argued serves as a guarantee for continued financial and military aid from Western allies. According to this view, Ukraine is willing to pursue its goals “at any cost, including shelling a nuclear power plant.”