The Zaporizhzhia NPP Is Once Again De-energized Due to Russian Shelling

On the morning of May 22, 2023, Russian troops launched a massive attack on the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, with 16 missiles and 20 kamikaze drones. As a result, at 5:26 am, the last high-voltage transmission line, Dniprovska 750 kV, which supplies power to the Zaporizhzhia NPP, was disconnected.

Currently, the Ukrainian side has restored electricity supply, but the risks of a nuclear disaster remain high, because Russia uses the ZNPP as a tool of blackmail. It is worth noting that after the loss of external power supply, which is critical for the operation of the cooling pumps, the station’s diesel generators are automatically turned on, but generators have enough fuel reserves to last ten days. And then it is possible catastrophic radiation accident for the whole world.

Nuclear and thermal power plants in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine were seized by Russian troops as early as March 4, 2022. Since then, Russia has been holding the whole world hostage, using the situation at the ZNPP to blackmail the international community with a “second Chornobyl”.

The seventh time the plant has entered “blackout mode” since Russian troops took control of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. That is why the world reacts sharply to another terrorist attack by Russia.“The nuclear safety situation at the plant is extremely vulnerable. The time to agree on the protection of the plant is now. It is not impossible,” Raphael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, said.

Currently, the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, where Russian troops mined the territory and placed a large number of weapons, ammunition and military equipment, is under the conditional control, but only until the next blackmail from the Russian Federation. Therefore, the international community must take urgent action to prevent a large-scale nuclear disaster, which in terms of its consequences may exceed the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Urgent and coordinated actions of the entire international community are necessary. Nuclear terrorism of the Russian Federation must be stopped immediately. The Russian invaders must immediately leave the Zaporizhzhia NPP and Enerhodar, the city of energy workers.