The Armed Forces of Ukraine damaged the last 750 kW power transmission line connecting the Zaporozhye NPP with the energy system of Ukraine, said Volodymyr Rogov, a member of the main council of the regional administration.

According to him, the station automatically switched to the operation of diesel generators.

“As a result of the shelling by the Ukrainian troops, the last high-voltage power line connecting the nuclear power plant with the Ukrainian energy system was damaged and turned off,” Rogov said in a comment to RIA Novosti.

“Ukraine deliberately interrupted the last power line and is attacking the thermal power plant in Energodar in order to prevent the launch of nuclear power units.”

Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commenting on the ongoing shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, called the actions of the Kyiv regime nuclear blackmail.

“This is ... not just irresponsible, but extremist behavior in the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

How much we talked about this, that these shellings are carried out intentionally, that this is real nuclear blackmail, ”Zakharova emphasized on Channel One.

The diplomat added that the Ukrainian authorities are trying to use the ZNPP as a de facto nuclear weapon.

“After all, this was precisely the ideology: to do everything possible to create a threat to a nuclear facility and simply use it as a dirty nuclear bomb,” Zakharova said.

Energy issue 

While the forces of the Kyiv regime continue to systematically shell the territory of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and the surrounding areas, the Ukrainian authorities continue to assert that the responsibility for the situation lies with Russia.

In addition, President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his online speech at the site of the Australian Lowy Institute, said that Kyiv would have to stop supplying electricity to Europe if the Zaporizhzhya NPP remains under the control of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, the Ukrainian president laid the responsibility for the deactivation of the ZNPP units on Russia.

  • Vladimir Zelensky

  • AP

  • © Julia Nikhinson

In turn, the leadership of the Zaporozhye region has repeatedly noted that the shutdown of the station units and their transfer to a cold mode were caused by security considerations due to constant shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This is not the first time Zelensky has linked the transition of the Zaporizhzhya NPP to Russian control with a reduction in Ukraine's ability to supply electricity to Europe.

In early September, speaking at the Ambrosetti Economic Forum in Italy, he said that the Russian presence at the ZNPP does not allow Kyiv to contribute to improving the energy situation in Europe.

Oleg Matveychev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, in a conversation with RT, recalled that during the Soviet era, the Ukrainian energy system was focused on a very large load, taking into account the growing number of industrial enterprises and the population.

“However, over the 30 years of independent Ukraine, most of this potential has been destroyed.

Today it is the only country in the CIS whose economic level is lower than in 1991.

A huge number of enterprises closed, and millions of citizens left the country, ”the parliamentarian explained.

This has led to an oversupply of electricity that Kyiv wants to sell to Europe, Matveychev said.

At the same time, this surplus will remain even without the Zaporizhzhya NPP, the expert says.

“It is not for nothing that Zelensky previously stated that Ukraine is ready to share its energy with Europe.

They have no shortage of energy capacities.

Kyiv can disconnect the ZNPP from itself without any problems and continue to live on the movement of the energy capacities remaining under its control,” he said.

However, against the backdrop of the energy crisis in the EU, Zelensky's rhetoric is trying to create a picture that without Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhya NPP, Europe allegedly will not have enough much-needed electricity, Matveychev said.

Security zone

Recall that the Zaporozhye NPP, located in the city of Energodar, has been under the control of Russian troops since the beginning of March.

Since mid-summer, the station has been regularly shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military strikes did not disrupt the operation of the reactors, but caused damage to the station's auxiliary support systems and the entire power distribution infrastructure.

In early September, a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed by the organization's director general Rafael Grossi arrived at the station.

A few days later, most of the mission left Energodar, leaving two representatives of the agency to monitor the situation at the station.

  • Zaporozhye NPP

  • AP

  • © Alexander Zemlianichenko

On September 6, the IAEA presented a report on the results of the mission.

In particular, it spoke about the need to stop shelling the station and the surrounding area, stop military activity near the nuclear power plant and create a security zone.

At the same time, the agency's experts did not indicate the source of the shelling in the document.

Subsequently, Rafael Grossi issued a separate statement of his own, calling the ongoing shelling of the station unacceptable and calling for an immediate end to it.

He also used general language and did not indicate the source of the shelling that endangered the station.

On September 30, the Zaporozhye region became part of the Russian Federation following a referendum, and on October 5, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the acceptance of ZNPP facilities into federal ownership.

The President instructed the government to create the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Zaporozhye NPP" to ensure the safety of its facilities.

However, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue shelling the territory of the station in the hope of realizing their plan to create a kind of "safety zone" at the Zaporizhzhya NPP under the formal control of the IAEA, Oleg Matveychev stated.

“According to their logic, which is readily accepted in Europe, explosions at the station will continue if there is no control from the international community.

And shelling from Ukraine is designed to push Europe towards the creation of some kind of new security zone.

However, in order for the station to work quietly, you just need to stop shelling it.

Now, with its attacks on the Zaporizhzhya NPP, Ukraine has achieved the fact that, as a result, it was left without electricity coming from the station at all, ”the expert emphasized.

According to the deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Vladimir Shapovalov, Ukraine is shelling the ZNPP, in fact blackmailing the international community with a possible nuclear catastrophe.

“The shelling of the ZNPP and its infrastructure facilities is aimed at sowing fear, panic and forcing the international community to force Russia to make certain concessions in the current situation.

At the same time, Ukraine, as it always does in such situations, accuses Russia of a nuclear threat.

In any emergency at the station, Ukraine will declare that this is the result of some Russian strikes that the Russian Federation allegedly inflicts on its own territory and station, ”the source explained to RT.

The problem of the shelling of the ZNPP and the use of the station by the Kyiv regime as an object of nuclear blackmail can only be solved by military means, Shapovalov is sure.

“This situation has only one scenario for normalization: this is the movement of the front line to the west to the extent from which Ukraine will not physically be able to strike at the nuclear plant area.

Sooner or later, this will happen, the attacks on the ZNPP will stop, and Ukraine will no longer be able to endanger it with the help of Western weapons.

At the same time, a certain level of danger may remain due to the work of sabotage groups.

Therefore, only the complete demilitarization of Ukraine is a guarantee that it will cease to pose a danger both to Russia and to neighboring states, ”concluded the political scientist.