The Russian Federation is building power lines in the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region to connect the captured Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to its own power grid.
This is reported by The New York Times, citing a Greenpeace report.
It cited satellite images showing that since early February, the Russians have been building more than 80 km of power lines and towers between occupied Mariupol and Berdyansk along the Azov Sea coast. Images from May 11–22 show the extension of these lines eastward. The NYT has verified that the images are authentic.
Planet Labs / Greenpeace
As Greenpeace noted, the goal of the project is to connect new lines to a large substation near Mariupol, which is connected to the Zaporizhzhia NPP, located approximately 225 kilometers away.
Moscowʼs exact plans are still unknown. It is unclear whether it wants to launch the plant after or during hostilities. In any case, experts say, Russia will have to build several more lines to fully connect the nuclear power plant to its own grid — a lengthy process.
According to Greenpeace Ukraine nuclear specialist Sean Burnie, one of the Russiansʼ possible goals is to connect the ZNPP to the Rostov regionʼs power system. This would be the first time in history that an aggressor state has seized another countryʼs nuclear facility and used it for its own energy purposes, the newspaper writes.
Of the four 750-kilovolt lines that once connected the nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian grid, two pass through Ukrainian-controlled territory. The other two, on TOT, were damaged, and only one is likely to have been restored, says nuclear energy expert Olha Kosharna.
Restarting the Zaporizhzhia NPP could be extremely risky, experts say. After more than three years of war, critical equipment has still not been replaced, and many experienced Ukrainian workers have left the plant. The explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant (HPP) in 2023 deprived the plant of its main source of water for cooling reactors and spent fuel.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that any attempts by Russian representatives to restart the power units could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP
The Russians occupied the Zaporizhzhia NPP in early March 2022, and it has been operating under their control since then. An IAEA mission has been stationed at the station since September 2022. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of Russian occupiers from the station. President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes that as long as Russian soldiers are at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, “the world remains on the brink of nuclear catastrophe”. Russia refuses to create a demilitarized zone at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been on the verge of a blackout several times. Power lines were knocked out due to Russian shelling.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.