This week, communication with a team of IAEA experts was lost for approximately 12 hours at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
This was reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The agency said it was the longest such incident since the start of the full-scale war. The cause of the failure has not yet been determined.
IAEA also reported a worsening power supply situation at the plant. For more than two months after the main 750 kV line was disconnected in March, the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been dependent on a single power transmission line.
In addition, the station has temporarily suspended the supply of diesel fuel for backup generators, which IAEA warned makes the facility even more vulnerable in the event of an emergency power outage.
IAEA also reported damage to the “Dniprovska” substation. Because of this, the power grid operator asked the Pivdennoukrainska Nuclear Power Plant to temporarily disconnect one of the power transmission lines.
What is known about the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP?
The Russians occupied the Zaporizhzhia NPP in early March 2022 and have been operating under their control since then. An IAEA mission has been at the station since September 2022. Ukraine insists on the withdrawal of the Russian occupiers from the station. Russia refuses to create a demilitarized zone at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
The Zaporizhzhia NPP has repeatedly lost external power supply due to hostilities near the plant. In such cases, it switched to backup diesel generators. The longest was the tenth blackout, which occurred due to Russian shelling and lasted a month — from September 23 to October 23, 2025.
The issue of the Zaporizhzhia NPP remains among the key ones in the trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia. In January, Politico, citing sources, wrote that Russia had proposed during the talks to share the electricity from the Zaporizhzhia NPP between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has already stated that such an idea looks unrealistic. Instead, he proposed that the Zaporizhzhia NPP be operated by Ukraine and the United States.
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