Russia makes a cynical statement about Zaporizhzhia NPP
25 March 23:35
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the aggressor country, Russia, has stated that Zaporizhzhya NPP is allegedly a Russian nuclear facility and that it is impossible to transfer control over it. This is stated in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
The Russian occupiers claim that ZNPP is now a Russian nuclear facility, which came under the jurisdiction of Moscow in October 2022 after an illegal referendum in the Zaporizhzhia region. The Russian Foreign Ministry also states that all employees of the plant are Russian citizens.
“The transfer of ZNPP itself or control over it to Ukraine or any other country is impossible. Joint operation of ZNPP with any state is also unacceptable. There are no such precedents in world practice,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
They called the idea of participation of any international organizations in the operation of the plant “absurd”, “since neither the mandate nor the competence of any of them allows them to participate in the operation of nuclear facilities”.
Earlier, US Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that during the talks with Russian representatives, the issues of Zaporizhzhia NPP and access to ports were discussed.
At the same time, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the issue of restoring the Zaporizhzhia NPP was raised during the dialogue with Trump.
According to the head of state, he explained to the American president that in addition to the plant itself, Ukraine needs to regain control of the city of Enerhodar, where ZNPP employees and their families live.
He then said that the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP would not work for Russia, and that it would take up to 2.5 years to restore its operation.
As a reminder, on December 10, a Russian drone hit an IAEA official vehicle that was heading to the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP.
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ZNPP
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the third largest in the world by total capacity. Located in the Zaporizhzhia region near the city of Enerhodar, it consists of six nuclear power units of 1 GW each. Construction began in 1981, and the first unit was commissioned in 1984. The last unit, the sixth, was commissioned in 1995.
ZNPP annually produced about 40 billion kWh of electricity, which was about 20% of Ukraine’s total power generation. It is also the first nuclear power plant in the country to have a dry spent fuel storage facility.
The Russian army seized ZNPP on the night of March 4, 2022, after shelling the nuclear facility. Russia has also occupied the city of Enerhodar, near which the nuclear power plant is located.
Since the beginning of the Russian occupation, Zaporizhzhia NPP has experienced eight complete blackouts with the launch of emergency diesel generators and safety systems. Their failure threatens to cause an emergency, according to Energoatom.
