The UN’s nuclear watchdog has said work is underway to restore power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (ZNPP) following the establishment of rare “ceasefire zones.”
The plant has been without power from the electricity network for four weeks, the longest blackout since the war began.
“Work has begun to repair damaged off-site power lines to ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant) after 4-week outage, following establishment of local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Grossi said in a social media post on Saturday.
“Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security. Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable complex repair plan to proceed,” he added.
Apart from the regular exchanges of prisoners, the fighting in Ukraine has rarely eased in the three-year conflict.
Neither side confirmed the local truce, but Ukraine’s energy ministry said Ukrainian specialists were working to restore the power lines on Saturday, the 42nd round of repair works since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“The only reason for the unprecedented risks and threat of a radiation incident in Europe is Russian military aggression, the occupation of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhya NPP and the systematic shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” the ministry said in a Telegram post.
The Russian-controlled power plant said in a post on Telegram that staff were carrying out restoration works, adding the Russian defense ministry was playing a “key role” in ensuring that the “work can be carried out in an area under active shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
“Without the security guarantees provided by the military, the work of the power engineers would be impossible,” the post said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost connection to its sole remaining power line last month, forcing the plant to run on emergency diesel generators for over 20 days, the IAEA reported.
Both sides traded accusations over the outage. Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of “intentionally” cutting the electricity supply to the nuclear plant to test reconnection with the Russian grid. Russia said the blackout was caused by Ukrainian shelling.
The blackout at the power plant, occupied by Russian forces since the early days of the war, marked the tenth time the site lost connection to the grid since the military conflict began, according to the IAEA.
Russia has continued to carry out strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Two weeks ago, a Russian strike on a Ukrainian energy substation in the city of Slavutych caused a blackout that lasted more than three hours at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Zelensky accused Moscow of a “deliberate strike” that involved “more than 20 drones,” stating that “the Russians could not have been unaware that striking facilities in Slavutych would have such consequences for Chernobyl.”
CNN’s Tim Lister and Gul Tuysuz contributed reporting
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
