The renewed bombing is “grossly irresponsible,” International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said in a press release on Saturday. The last power line connecting the plant to Ukraine’s power grid was damaged and disconnected on Saturday due to attacks by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom. The plant now relies on diesel generators. “Resuming the bombing, which strikes the factory’s only source of external power, is terribly irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant must be protected,” Grossi said on Saturday. “All safety systems at the plant continue to receive power and operate normally, IAEA experts were informed by senior Ukrainian personnel at the scene,” the statement added. “Although the six reactors are in cold shutdown, they still require electricity for vital nuclear safety and security functions. The plant’s diesel generators have sufficient fuel for at least ten days. ZNPP engineers have started work to repair the damaged 750 kV power line,” according to the announcement. Grossi stressed that the plant “must be protected” and added that he “will soon travel to the Russian Federation and then return to Ukraine, to agree on a nuclear safety and protection zone around the plant. This is an absolute and urgent imperative.” What Russian officials say: The plant can be put back into operation, said Vladimir Rogov, who is a senior pro-Russian official in the Zaporizhia regional government. “Now the nuclear plant is back in emergency mode. The last power line that connected it to the right bank, the lands controlled by [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s regime has been cut. At the moment, the nuclear power plant can only be powered by diesel generators, and this is an unusual means,” Rogov said speaking on the pro-Kremlin program “Soloviev Live” on Saturday. “We have every possibility to restore the nuclear plant and put it into operation,” he added.
