Ukraine Says Russian Shelling Disconnects Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant From Grid

Ukraine’s energy operator said on Monday that a fire caused by Russian shelling had severed a power-transmission line and effectively disconnected the Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant from Ukraine’s electricity grid.

Ukraine has for weeks accused Russia of deliberately shelling the plant, Europe’s largest. Russia has in turn blamed Ukrainian forces positioned across the Dnipro River in areas around the city of Nikopol. It didn’t immediately comment on the latest accusation.

 “Due to a fire caused by shelling, the 330 kV ZTPP–Ferosplavna power transmission line was disconnected, that is the last line linking the ZNPP/ZTPP hub to the power system of Ukraine,” the country’s energy operator Energoatom said on Monday, referring to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant and Zaporizhzhia thermoelectric-power plant.

Before the war, the 6.7-gigawatt facility provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s total electricity. The cutoff is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on Ukraine’s electricity supply given much weaker demand for power since the war began, an official at Energoatom said. The power plant has for weeks been producing minimal amounts of electricity, mostly to keep itself running, the person said. But the hobbled plant could become a bigger problem in the coming months.

“This is not critical to Ukraine’s energy system, because the consumption of energy has substantially dropped since the war started,” the person said. “But winter is coming, and cold is coming, and if this plant is out of service then things will be even harder.”

In recent weeks, officials have managed to overcome damage to other power lines by keeping reserve lines operating, and a visit last week from representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency fueled hopes that the fighting might end. It was unclear if the reserve lines had been damaged by the latest attack.

Officials in Kyiv and the West have said Russia’s ultimate goal in occupying the plant, which Ukraine says is patrolled by hundreds of Russian soldiers, is to sever it completely from Ukraine’s grid and reconnect it to Russia’s.

The U.S. government said it was deeply concerned about reports of damage to power lines at the plant.

“The plant and the electricity that it produces rightly belong to Ukraine,” a State Department spokesman said. “Any attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and redirect energy to Russia-controlled areas is unacceptable.”

In recent days, the IAEA sent a team of six inspectors to the plant in a bid to control its operation and encourage fighting to stop. On Monday, Ukraine said that four of the six had left the plant after completing the work, but that the remaining two would continue on a permanent basis at the plant. Russian state media reports confirmed that two staff had stayed behind.

The news adds to Ukraine’s woes as it struggles to keep its economy afloat amid mounting debt and to provide energy to residents. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Sunday that around 600,000 consumers had already been left without power as a result of damage to key infrastructure caused by the war.

Damage to power lines and other vital infrastructure comes as residents across Ukraine prepare for winter, but it has overwhelmingly affected inhabitants of the Donbas region in the country’s east, where people are stockpiling wood and coal in villages and towns deprived of gas.

But the tide appears to be shifting on the battlefield. Ukraine’s military offensive to recapture territory in the south of the country from Russian troops claimed a political success on Monday when the Moscow-appointed head of occupying forces in one region said they would postpone a self-styled referendum on formally joining Russia because of deteriorating security conditions.

Russian-installed officials in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions have been making preparations for tightly managed votes on the question of annexation by Russia, with officials regularly arriving from Moscow to give the initiative their backing.

But after recent Ukraine gains in the area, the head of occupying forces in the Kherson region said the vote would be put off, giving Ukraine a symbolic victory.

“Because of all the events that have happened now, I think we will make a pause,” Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency Tass. “We are not afraid. We have already said: Kherson will be Russian forever.”

Ukraine says its offensive in the south has liberated several towns captured by Russian forces early in the war, but Russia continues to push for territorial gains in the east of the country. The U.K.’s Defense Ministry on Monday said the seizure of the entire Donbas most likely remained Russia’s primary objective.

The ministry noted that a push toward the city of Bakhmut, the most successful axis in Russia’s offensive, is advancing at a pace of around 0.6 miles a week. Ukrainian intelligence has said that Russia revised its deadline for the capture of Donbas to Sept. 15, a date that the U.K.’s ministry said it would almost certainly not reach.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with ABC that aired Monday called on the U.S. to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Asked at the White House Monday night if Russia should receive that designation, President Biden said, “No.”

Across Europe, the war is causing an increase in energy prices. Groups of protesters in the Czech Republic and Germany called for a curtailing of support for Ukraine over the weekend and urged concerted government action to counteract rising energy prices caused by Russia’s shutdown of the Nord Stream pipeline that supplies much of the continent.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed sanctions for the gas shortfall, saying the trade restrictions had created problems with maintenance. German and other European countries reject that explanation, saying Russia is choosing to shut off supply to pressure European governments to drop their support of Ukraine.

In a video address late on Sunday, Mr. Zelensky condemned what he described as Russia’s use of energy as a weapon and said Moscow was deliberately trying to worsen the lives of Europeans.

“Wherever Russia cannot do this by way of conventional arms, it does it by way of the energy weapon,” he said. “It issues blows with poverty and political chaos wherever it cannot reach with rockets.”

The Kremlin on Sunday reiterated its readiness to hold negotiations with Mr. Zelensky but said the focus would be on how Moscow’s original demands for Ukraine would be met by Kyiv.

“The operation is advancing at its own pace, and all goals will be met,” Mr. Peskov said in a TV interview, echoing a sentiment voiced many times by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Zelensky has said that talks are off the table until Russia returns Ukrainian territories it has occupied, and has branded Mr. Putin’s government a state sponsor of terrorism for attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

On Monday, two employees of the Russian Embassy in Kabul were killed in an explosion near the mission, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to the ministry, an unknown assailant set off an explosive device at the entrance to the consular section of the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital, killing the two employees. Afghan citizens were among the victims, according to the ministry, which noted that the embassy was in close contact with Afghan security services, which were investigating the incident.

“Of course, we are talking about a terrorist act,” Mr. Peskov told reporters. “Totally unacceptable. We strongly condemn such terrorist acts,” he said.