VIENNA: Work has started to repair damaged power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a lengthy outage, following the establishment of local ceasefire zones, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday.
The site, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, lost its connection to the grid on September 23 for the tenth time — marking the longest outage of external power supply to the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Repairs to the off-site power lines began after the “establishment of local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed,” Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a post on X.
The IAEA said that both sides had worked with the agency to allow the “complex repair plan” to proceed.
“Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security,” it said.
The agency did not indicate how long the work would take. It has previously said repairs are needed on both sides of the front line, several kilometers from the plant.
Both Russia and Ukraine confirmed the repair works were ongoing.
Since the outage, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been powered by backup diesel generators. The IAEA says safety has been maintained with reactors continuing to be effectively cooled.
Located near the city of Enerhodar along the Dnieper River, the nuclear plant is close to the front line.
Its six reactors, which produced about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before the war, were shut down after Moscow took control.
However, the plant needs electricity to maintain its cooling and safety systems to prevent a disaster.
At the beginning of October, Moscow claimed that the situation was “under control” in Zaporizhzhia following concerns raised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear disaster by attacking the site and have blamed each other for the latest power outage.
Work begins to repair Ukraine nuclear plant’s power lines
https://arab.news/2nna6
Work begins to repair Ukraine nuclear plant’s power lines
- IAEA said that both sides had worked with the agency to allow the “complex repair plan” to proceed
- “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security”
Hundreds rally in Paris to support Ukraine after four years of war
- Demonstrators chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it“
- “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine“
PARIS: Around one thousand took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to show their “massive support” for Ukraine, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Demonstrators marching through the French capital chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it,” and “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine.”
“In public opinion, there is massive support for Ukraine that has not wavered since the first day of the full-scale invasion” by the Russian army on February 24, 2022, European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann, told AFP.
“On the other hand, in the French political class, sounds of giving up are starting to emerge. On both the far left and the far right, voices of capitulation are getting louder and louder,” he added.
In the crowd, Irina Kryvosheia, a Ukrainian who arrived in France several years ago, “thanked with all her heart the people present.”
She said they reminded “everyone that what has been happening for four years is not normal, it is not right.”
Kryvosheia said she remains in daily contact with her parents in Kyiv, who told her how they were deprived “for several days” of heating, electricity and running water following intense bombardments by the Russian army.
Francois Grunewald, head of “Comite d’Aide Medicale Ukraine,” had just returned from a one-month mission in the country, where the humanitarian organization has delivered around forty generators since the beginning of the year.
Russia’s full-scale invasion sent shockwaves around the world and triggered the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in Europe since World War II.
The war has seen tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of military personnel killed on both sides. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine, where vast areas have been devastated by fighting.
Russia occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and its heavy attacks on the country’s energy sites have sparked a major energy crisis.
