Kiev cuts own power from ZNPP, IAEA asks for cease of shelling
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With the constant shelling of the ZNPP by Ukrainian forces amid the arrival of the IAEA to the site, the forces are cutting off power in a plant operating with 1 power unit.
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Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (AFP)
According to Vladimir Rogov, the chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement and a member of the main council of the Zaporozhye region's administration, Kiev authorities have announced that they unanimously stopped accepting electricity supplies from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in his statement to Sputnik.
"The supply of electricity from the Zaporozhye NPP to the territory controlled by the regime of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky has been stopped. Moreover, it has been stopped unilaterally by the Ukrainian side. They deliberately do not accept electricity, albeit it is technically possible to supply it there," Rogov said.
He added that electricity is now being supplied to the liberated Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, noting that the Ukrainian authorities are deliberately trying to put the ZNPP out of operation by creating problems for the plant. Shelling at the town of the ZNPP in Ukraine has caused a blackout, compromising the safe operation of the plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday, and its chief, Rafael Grossi, urged for an urgent cessation of shelling.
Furthermore, the Energodar city authorities announced Saturday that the electricity supply from the ZNPP - Europe's largest - to the areas controlled by the Kiev regime was cut due to a malfunction caused by Ukrainian shelling. Rogov commented that the weapons Ukraine used to strike the NPP were the NATO-standard 155mm munitions, manufactured with US-made fuses M739.
Energodar and the Zaporozhye plant have been under Russian control since early March and had operated without interruption until July when drone and artillery assaults began. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, 29 strikes on the Zaporozhye complex have taken place since July 18, including 120 artillery shells and 16 kamikaze drones.
Authorities reported in a statement that a total of seven shells had hit the area of a training building on the NPP premises, one of which had caused a leak of fuel oil from a tank at a water delivery line at the ZNPP but it maintains its function at the lowest possible capacity, with only one power unit out of six operating within 12-15% of the plant's maximum output.
Moscow criticized the IAEA for not naming the source of the shelling at ZNPP and demanded clarifications regarding its report.
