“The attackers’ actions caused a complete disconnection of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) from the power grid — the first in the plant’s history,” he wrote. Later on Thursday, the Russian-installed regional governor said that “currently, power supply to all cities and regions of the Zaporizhzhia region has been restored” by the plant after earlier outages. The official, Yevhen Balytskyi, blamed Ukrainian military action for the previous outages. “As a result of the strike of the armed formations of Ukraine on power transmission lines in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant area, the safety zone area of the 750 kV overhead line caught fire. The fire was caused by a short circuit in power cables,” he said. In a separate statement, Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate, which cited nuclear company Energoatom, said a power line from the plant was disconnected due to hostilities in the area. As a result, one of the nuclear power units at the plant had also been disconnected, he said. The complex has six reactors, but only two are currently operating. It is unclear whether there is currently a power outage at the plant. CNN was previously told that there are 18 diesel generators at the plant as backup power sources to the reactors. However, Thursday’s disconnection has raised concerns that Moscow is attempting to divert electricity generated in Zaporizhia to Russian-held regions of Ukraine. That view was echoed Monday by Energoatom chief Petro Kotin, who accused Russia of trying to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian grid “and then try to reconnect it to the Russian system,” in an interview with CNN. He said the only way to do that would require a complete shutdown of the plant “and a complete shutdown of all the lines that are connected to the Ukrainian system. Because the frequencies right now are different, Russian frequency and Ukrainian frequency — we are synchronized with the European system and are in sync with Russia.” However, he warned that once the fourth line is destroyed, “then we will have more power outages throughout the plant,” he said, describing it as a “dangerous situation” because the plant will depend only on diesel-powered generators, which are unreliable.” because they need fuel to work, and also… they have a limited ability to be constantly in a working state.” The nuclear plant, which is the largest in Europe, has been under Russian control since March. Conflicts in the complex have caused widespread concern and fears of disaster. Ukraine has accused Russian troops of using the plant as a shield, risking a potential disaster at the plant. The Kremlin in turn has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant. Calls have grown for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be sent to the plant. “We are very, very close to it [an agreement with Russia]”, IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi told France 24 on Thursday. CNN’s Sam Kiley and Bex Wright contributed to this report.
