2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Russian attacks on substations are ‘nuclear terrorism’, says Ukraine

Ukrainian foreign ministry says deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities violate international law as fears of a winter crisis grow. What we know on day 1,347Ukraine’s foreign ministry has denounced what it described as Russian attacks on substations critical to supplying external power for Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Russia has carried out “targeted strikes on such substations”, a ministry statement issued late on Friday said. “Deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities that directly affect the safe operation of nuclear installations bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism and constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” it added.The foreign ministry referred to a statement issued on Thursday by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reporting military activity “that has led to damage to substations critical to nuclear safety and security in Ukraine”. The IAEA statement reported incidents near two nuclear plants – So...

Events

2 w. ago How Russia is risking nuclear catastrophe with attempts to syphon power from Ukraine’s biggest plant

The exiled mayor of Enerhodar, close to Ukraine’s biggest nuclear power station fears tells Sam Kiley in Zaporizhzhia he is afraid of an ecological catastrophe

Events

3 w. ago Ukraine foiled plans to reconnect Zaporizhzhia power plant in time for Putin’s birthday

The power plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine was without external power for a month before repairs were made

Politics

3 w. ago Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnected to external power from Ukraine

Move ends month-long reliance on backup generators after power line was cut in SeptemberRussian engineers have reconnected the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to external electrical power from Ukraine, ending a month-long emergency that had plunged the future of the six-reactor site into doubt.Ukrainian sources told the Guardian that Russian technicians had hoped to connect Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – which had been relying on backup generators since its last external power line was cut in September – to power from the Russian grid on 7 October as a birthday present for Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Repairs begin in bid to restore power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

UN watchdog says Russia and Ukraine have established special ceasefire zones to allow the repairs to be safely carried out. What we know on day 1,334Work has started to repair damaged power lines leading to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a lengthy outage, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. The site, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, lost its connection to the grid on 23 September for the 10th time – the longest outage of external power supply to the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine.The repairs to the off-site power lines began after Russian and Ukrainian forces established “local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed”, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on X. “Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” Grossi said. “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security.” The agency said it expected the work to take about...

Events

4 w. ago Work begins to restore power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Work has begun to repair the damaged power supply to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said

Economics