KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Work has begun to repair the damaged power supply to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday. The repairs are hoped to end a precarious four-week outage that saw it dependent on backup generators.
Russian and Ukrainian forces established special ceasefire zones for repairs to be safely carried out, said the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi. He hailed the restoration of off-site power as “crucial for nuclear safety and security.”
“Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” Grossi said in a statement.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk confirmed that Ukrainian specialists were involved in restoring power lines to the plant and said that its stable operation and connection with the Ukrainian power grid were essential to prevent a nuclear incident. She also said that it was the 42nd time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 that power lines to the plant had to be restored.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, has been operating on diesel back-up generators since Sept. 23 when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that Russia and Ukraine each blamed on the other.
The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
Aerial assault continues
Elsewhere, Russia continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, launching three missiles and 164 drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said Saturday. It said that Ukrainian forces shot down 136 of the drones.
Two people were injured after Russian drones targeted a gas station in the Zarichny district of Sumy in northeast Ukraine, local officials said Saturday. They were two women ages 51 and 53, according to regional Gov. Oleh Hryhorov.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that its air defenses had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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