- Regular power line at the Zaporizhzhia plant in operation
- The nearby fires had interrupted the electrical connection
- Work is underway to reconnect two operating reactors to the grid
- Fighting continues in the east and south
Kyiv, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the world narrowly avoided a radiation disaster when power at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was cut for hours due to Russian bombing in the area, accusations that Moscow denied.
Zelenskiy said Thursday’s Russian shelling sparked fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant that disconnected the reactor complex, Europe’s largest such facility, from the power grid. A Russian official said Ukraine was to blame.
Backup diesel generators ensured the power supply that is vital to the plant’s cooling and safety systems, Zelenskiy said, praising Ukrainian technicians who operate the plant under the watchful eye of the Russian military.
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“If the staff of our station had not reacted after the blackout, we would have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident,” he said in a speech in the evening.
“Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans on the brink of a radiation disaster.”
Energoatom said electricity for the plant’s own needs was currently being supplied through a power line from the Ukrainian power system and work was underway to restore grid connection to the plant’s two operating reactors .
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied town of Enerhodar, near the plant, blamed Ukraine’s armed forces for the incident, saying they started a fire in a forest near the plant. He said local towns had lost power for several hours.
“This was caused by the disconnection of the power lines of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as a result of the provocations of Zelenskiy’s fighters,” Rogov wrote in Telegram. “The outage itself was triggered by a fire and a short circuit in the power lines.”
HOTSPOT
Energoatom said it had been the first complete shutdown of the plant, which has become a hot spot during the six-month war.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February, seized the plant in March and has controlled it ever since, although Ukrainian technicians still operate it. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the site, fueling fears of a nuclear disaster.
The United Nations is seeking access to the plant and has called for the area to be demilitarized. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials are “very, very close” to being able to visit Zaporizhzhia, the agency’s director general Rafael Grossi said on Thursday.
Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the plant’s spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors. Power outages needed to cool the pools could lead to a disastrous meltdown.
Paul Bracken, a national security expert and professor at the Yale School of Management, said the concern was that artillery shells or missiles could pierce the walls of the reactor and spread radiation around a potentially large area, such as the 1986 accident involving the Chornobyl reactor.
A failure at the Zaporizhzhia plant could “kill hundreds or thousands of people and environmentally damage a much larger area reaching into Europe,” Bracken said.
“Russian roulette is a good metaphor because the Russians are spinning the barrel of the revolver, threatening to explode reactor brains all over Europe,” Bracken said.
FIGHT
Russia’s ground campaign has stalled in recent months after its troops were pushed out of the capital Kyiv in the first weeks of the invasion, but fighting continues on the front in the south and east.
Russian forces control territory along Ukraine’s Black Sea and Sea of Azov coasts, while the conflict has turned into a war of attrition in the eastern Donbass region, which includes the Donetsk provinces and Luhansk.
In its morning summary of battlefield developments across the country on Friday, the Ukrainian military said its forces had repulsed Russian assaults on the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s operational command “South” said its artillery had hit ammunition depots and enemy personnel in the southern Kherson region, while airstrikes were launched against enemy air defenses.
Russian news agency TASS reported that Ukrainian forces using a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher targeted the Donbas city of Stakhanov, with about 10 rockets hitting the city before dawn on Friday, officials said pro-Moscow separatists in Luhansk.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield reports from either side.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked for more high-grade Western military hardware it says it needs to repel Russian attacks.
Zelenskiy spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, who reiterated US support for Ukraine against Russia, the White House said. Biden announced $3 billion in new security assistance for Kyiv on Wednesday, Ukraine’s independence day, although it could take months or even years to arrive.
Potentially lending more credence to Western estimates of heavy Russian losses during the war, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree increasing the size of Russia’s armed forces to 2.04 million from 1.9 million. Read more
The Kremlin says its goal is to “desazify” and demilitarize Ukraine and eliminate perceived security threats in Russia. Ukraine and the West say this is a baseless pretext for a war of conquest.
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Reuters bureau reports; Writing by Daniel Wallis, Stephen Coates and Gareth Jones; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Simon Cameron-Moore and Philippa Fletcher
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