Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, said the temporary outage was the first time the plant had ever been disconnected from the grid. However, he added there were “no concerns” of a full-scale accident after the back-up systems kicked in. Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of carrying out artillery shelling near the plant, which is based in the southern Ukrainian city of Energodar. Kremlin forces seized the facility early in its invasion, which began six months ago, and workers now operate under Russian supervision. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, discussed growing concerns about Zaporizhzhia in a phone call Thursday with Joe Biden, his American counterpart. They called on Russia to return full control of the plant to Kyiv and allow international inspectors access to the facility. In a video address on Thursday night, Zelenskyy said that while backup diesel generators successfully provided emergency power to the station after bombing damaged connections to the power grid, the plant came dangerously close to a “radioactive accident.” “People need to understand what a threat this is: if the diesel generators did not start, if the automation and staff of our station did not work after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the accident with radioactivity.” Zelensky said, adding that the international community “must act faster” to prevent a catastrophe. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said Ukrainian authorities had informed it of the temporary disconnection of the “last remaining operational 750-kilovolt external power line”. “Almost every day there is a new incident at or near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. We cannot afford to waste any more time,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. “I am determined to personally lead an IAEA mission to the plant in the coming days to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there.”

Grossi met Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday, where the French president offered his government’s support for a mission to inspect the factory. “We’re very concerned about any of the activities that are taking place, particularly because we don’t have sufficient access to see what’s actually going on and what the immediate impact of what’s going on there might be,” said Bonnie Jenkins, US. the State Department’s top arms control official. Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest in terms of power generation capacity, was repeatedly disconnected and reconnected to the power grid on Thursday. Energoatom said other lines connecting the plant to Ukraine’s grid were damaged earlier during the Russian invasion. According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-imposed official in the occupied Zaporizhia region, told the country’s state television channel that the incident did not pose a threat to the nuclear reactors. The UK Ministry of Defense tweeted on Thursday: “Russia is likely ready to exploit any Ukrainian military activity near [Zaporizhzhia] for propaganda purposes”.