Zaporizhzhia NPP operated on diesel generators for over an hour due to nighttime Russian attack
13 December 2025 15:26
During the Russian attack on the night of December 13, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid for more than an hour due to damaged power lines.
According to "Komersant Ukrainian", this was reported by Vitaliy Zaichenko, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, during a telethon.
“Today, during the night attack, Zaporizhzhia NPP operated on diesel generators for more than an hour. Only after the alarm was over, we were able to power the nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian power system,” said Zaichenko.
According to him, today’s attack once again damaged the power lines that supply power to the plant.
The head of Ukrenergo emphasized that such incidents pose a threat to the whole of Europe. Zaichenko reminded that ZNPP receives electricity from the Ukrainian power system for its own needs, in particular, for cooling nuclear reactors.
“The fuel, even if it is not used to generate electricity, must be cooled. Because an uncontrolled nuclear reaction can occur, which will lead to a radiation release,” Zaichenko explained.
Blackout at ZNPP
As a reminder, Russia’s occupation of Zaporizhzhia NPP has been going on since March 2022, where the invaders are constantly posing a nuclear threat.
Russian troops deploy equipment and personnel on the territory of the plant, conduct shelling that causes power outages, ignore nuclear safety rules and try to connect the plant to the Russian power grid.
The occupiers also stage shelling and force personnel to work under contracts. This situation forces Energoatom to appeal to the international community to increase pressure on Russia to prevent a nuclear disaster.
on November 19, Ukrainian power engineers restored power to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, which had been without electricity for a long time due to damage to a high-voltage line caused by Russian shelling.
Earlier, on September 23, Energoatom reported the tenth complete blackout at the plant since the beginning of the full-scale war.
The Russian occupiers deliberately did not connect ZNPP to the Ukrainian power grid, and the only external power line that connected the plant to the Ukrainian grid failed. The blackout lasted for a month.
On December 6, it was reported that Zaporizhzhia NPP temporarily lost power from external sources.
