Ukrainian President highlights that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility has been without electricity for a full week, marking the longest outage since Russia’s large-scale invasion in 2022.
Published On 30 Sep 2025
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, has issued a grave warning regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, emphasizing that the plant has endured a power outage lasting seven consecutive days.
“This marks an unprecedented duration,” Zelenskyy remarked during his evening briefing on Tuesday.
Following the failure of external power lines, one of the plant’s emergency diesel generators has also ceased functioning, compounding the crisis, the president revealed.
“The facility’s disconnection from the electrical grid is a direct result of Russian bombardment,” Zelenskyy stated.
He further condemned the act, declaring, “No terrorist group globally has ever dared to jeopardize a nuclear power plant in the manner Russia is currently doing.”
This blackout represents the longest period without power at the Russian-controlled plant since the onset of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moreover, this incident marks the tenth occasion since the conflict began that the largest nuclear power station in Europe has been severed from the grid.
Captured by Russian forces early in the war, the Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors-previously responsible for generating roughly 20% of Ukraine’s electricity-were shut down after the takeover.
Despite the reactors being offline, continuous power is essential to operate cooling and safety mechanisms that prevent reactor core meltdowns, which could trigger a catastrophic nuclear event.
Russian authorities have yet to respond to the recent reports concerning the plant’s status.
Both Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of endangering the nuclear facility by launching attacks, each blaming the other for the current power outage.
Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), condemned the severing of external power lines earlier this week but refrained from assigning fault to either party.
In a statement released Tuesday, Grossi confirmed ongoing discussions with officials from both nations aimed at swiftly restoring offsite electricity to the Zaporizhzhia plant.
“I maintain continuous dialogue with both sides to facilitate the plant’s prompt reconnection to the power grid,” the IAEA chief explained.
He added, “While the facility is currently sustained by emergency diesel generators-the final safeguard-and no immediate threat exists as long as these remain operational, this is an unsustainable condition from a nuclear safety perspective.”
“A nuclear accident would be detrimental to all involved parties.”
The IAEA has permanent monitoring teams stationed at Zaporizhzhia as well as at Ukraine’s three other nuclear power plants.
The IAEA is actively engaging with both parties in the conflict to facilitate the restoration of offsite power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant at the earliest opportunity, Director General @rafaelmgrossi stated today: https://t.co/ODSjkR6fXd pic.twitter.com/SbWEh7TBCq
– IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) September 30, 2025
