MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is functioning normally, Alexander Volga, who heads the Energodar military-civilian administration, reported on Friday, refuting media reports from yesterday about a blackout.
"The complete blackout reported by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky never happened, the Zaporozhye NPP was never disconnected. An emergency situation was thwarted on the plant’s premises by an automated protection system. The nuclear power plant is currently functioning as normal," Volga told Channel One television.
The Zaporozhsky Vestnik newspaper reported on Thursday that Melitopol, Energodar and a number of other localities in the Zaporozhye Region had lost electricity following Ukrainian attacks on Energodar, where the Zaporozhye plant is located. A field near Energodar reportedly caught fire, which caused a short circuit at a substation. Head of the Zaporozhye Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said one of the two power units at the nuclear facility was put back into operation as soon as the fire had been put out. Balitsky added that work was underway to restore the power supply to the Zaporozhye Region and re-commission the other ZNPP power unit disconnected from the grid. Power supply to all cities and districts in the region has been restored.
The Zaporozhye NPP is no longer servicing Kiev-controlled areas, after the last transmission line was severed in a Ukrainian attack the day before, Vladimir Rogov from the main council of the Zaporozhye Region’s military-civilian administration, told the Rossiya-1 TV station on Friday.
Rogov said the situation at the plant was under control, with electricity being transmitted directly to the liberated areas in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
Energodar, where the Zaporozhye NPP, Europe’s largest, is located has lately been the target of Ukrainian shelling. The Kiev regime’s forces have carried out several strikes against the plant’s premises, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems. The majority of the attacks have been deflected by Russia’s air defense systems, however, shells hit some infrastructure facilities and the area of a nuclear waste storage facility.