Zelensky says world escaped nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia after power cut

KYIV • The world narrowly escaped a radiation disaster when electricity to Europe's largest nuclear power plant was cut off for hours, Ukraine's President has said, while urging international bodies to act faster to force Russian troops to vacate the site.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian shelling on Thursday had sparked fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that disconnected the Zaporozhzhia plant from the power grid.

A Russian official said Ukraine was to blame. Mr Zelensky said back-up diesel generators ensured power supply vital for cooling and safety systems at the plant, and praised the Ukrainian technicians who operate the plant under the gaze of the Russian military.

"If our station staff had not reacted after the blackout, then we would have already been forced to overcome the consequences of a radiation accident," he said in a video address on Thursday.

"Russia has put Ukraine and all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster... Every minute that Russian troops remain at the nuclear power station, there is a risk of a global radiation catastrophe," he said.

The plant resumed electricity supplies to Ukraine yesterday after one of its six reactors was reconnected to the Ukrainian grid, state nuclear company Energoatom said. "The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is connected to the grid and is producing electricity for the needs of Ukraine," Energoatom said in a statement.

Mr Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied town of Enerhodar near the plant, blamed Ukrainian armed forces for Thursday's incident, saying they caused a fire in a forest near the plant. "This was caused by the disconnection of power lines from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station as a result of provocations by Zelensky's fighters," Mr Rogov wrote on Telegram.

"The disconnection itself was triggered by a fire and short circuit on the power lines."

Meanwhile, Russia's Defence Ministry said yesterday its forces had destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer which it said Ukraine had used to shell the Zaporizhzhia plant. Satellite images showed a fire near the plant, but the cause could not be verified.

Energoatom said Thursday's incident had been the first complete disconnection of the plant, which has become a hot spot in the six-month-old war. The regional authorities in Zaporizhzhia said more than 18,000 people across several settlements remained without electricity yesterday due to damage caused to power lines, without specifying which lines they meant.

Separately, US President Joe Biden talked with President Zelensky on Thursday, White House officials said. In a statement after the call, the officials said that both leaders expressed concern about ongoing fighting around the plant.

The leaders called for Russia to return full control of the complex to Ukraine and for inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency to access to the plant.

In another development, Ukraine's capital on Thursday renamed 95 streets as part of a drive to purge Russian and Soviet place names, Kyiv's mayor announced, a day after Ukraine marked 31 years of independence.

Since Russia invaded in February, Ukraine has accelerated what it calls "derussification", a campaign to shed the legacy of hundreds of years of rule by Moscow.

The new names "should perpetuate the memory of significant historical events of Ukraine, as well as famous figures and heroes who glorified Ukraine and fought for the independence of our state", Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

REUTERS, NYTIMES