Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is trying to create the risk of a nuclear incident and alleged that Moscow deliberately carried out the attack that caused the power outage at the closed Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.
Zelensky also said that Moscow is doing nothing to restore power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant it has seized, which has been cooled by diesel generators for eight days. Russia is taking advantage of the “weak” position of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General Rafael Grossi.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry has reported that the Russian attacks have cut off power to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, including to a building built to contain pollution from the reactors damaged in 1986. About 307,000 households in the Chernihiv region were also left without electricity. Zelensky said that Slavutych was attacked by more than 20 drones, causing a three-hour power outage in Chornobyl. The Ukrainian president wrote on the Telegram messaging app that
the Russians could not have been unaware that the strike on Slavutych would have consequences for Chornobyl.
The IAEA has released a statement acknowledging that fluctuations were detected at the NPP after the power outage, but that alternative power was turned on and external power was later restored.
Russia has not commented on the incident.
The Ukrainian Energy Ministry’s statement did not mention an increased risk of radioactive contamination, but it did say that the building that covers the damaged reactor 4 and prevents radioactive materials from entering the environment was also left without electricity.
Speaking about the Zaporizhzhia NPP, Zelensky said that Russia had cut off its electricity supply and was not allowing Ukrainian specialists to restore it. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia was doing everything possible to maintain the safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, but that the Ukrainians were regularly shelling the NPP.
Zelensky said that the situation in Zaporizhzhia was critical, while Grossi responded by saying that the power outage did not pose an immediate danger, but added that external power supply also needed to be restored.
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