The nuclear power plant of Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, which has been seized by Russian forces, has again been cut off from the Ukrainian electricity grid, Moscow and Kiev said today, a potentially dangerous incident that has become frequent with shelling linked to fighting in the region. The two sides blamed each other for the power outage at the station.

“If it is impossible to restore external power during this time, an accident could occur with radioactive consequences for the whole planet”Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom warned.

He said the power outage at the station was caused by Russian shelling, while Russian-appointed local authorities said Ukraine had disconnected a power line.

In a statement, Energoatom notes that the supply interruption was caused by overnight “attack” by Russian forces from which the connection to the last high-voltage power line connecting the station to the Ukrainian grid was cut off.

A new airstrike took place overnight against the city of Dnipro, the capital of Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the Ukrainian armed forces, which said they shot down 4 Russian cruise missiles and 20 drones.

Let’s agree now to protect the station, this situation cannot continue

“Due to the interruption of the Dniprovskaya high-voltage line (which is connected to a station in the region where Dnipro is located) the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant lost its external power supply,” the Russian occupying administration of the plant said in a post on Telegram.

She clarified that the station’s emergency diesel generators were activated to temporarily ensure its minimum operation and cooling of the reactors. Those generators typically have fuel to run for 10 days, according to Energoatom, which warned today that “the countdown has begun.”

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi reacted by noting that the nuclear safety of the facilities is “extremely vulnerable”.

“We must agree now to protect the station, this situation cannot continue,” he warned in a tweet.

This is the seventh time this huge nuclear complex has been cut off from the Ukrainian electricity grid since the Russian military took control of it on March 4, 2022. The station is located on the banks of the Dnieper River, which, in this region, divides the two camps.

The last time was in early March. Its external power supply was restored after a few hours.

In late March, the IAEA director said he was seeking a compromise between the two camps so that the facilities would not be attacked in anticipation of a Ukrainian counterattack, and he had once again appealed to Moscow not to store military equipment there.

The station, which previously produced 20% of Ukraine’s electricity, it continued to operate in the early months of the Russian invasion of the country, despite periods of bombing, before being shut down in September.

Since then, none of VVER-1000’s six reactors, which date back to the time of the former USSR, produce electricity, but its facilities remain connected to the Ukrainian energy system and consume electricity generated by it for their own needs, mainly to ensure cooling of the reactors.