One generator already failed at Zaporizhzhia plant, Zelenskyy warns

Zelenskyy said this in his evening video address on September 30.

“The situation is critical. Due to Russian shelling, the plant has been cut off from the power grid. It is being supplied with electricity from diesel generators. This is extraordinary. Neither the generators nor the plant are designed for this and have never operated in such a mode for so long. We already have information that one of the generators has failed. It is the Russians, through their shelling, who are preventing the repair of power lines to the plant and the restoration of basic safety,” the statement reads.

Read also: Zaporizhzhia NPP must not be connected to Russia’s power system

According to the Ukrainian president, he has already issued instructions to the government.

“This is a threat to absolutely everyone. No terrorist in the world has ever dared to do with a nuclear power plant what Russia is doing now. And it is right that the world should not remain silent. I held a meeting with the military and the Ministry of Energy. I instructed the government — the Ministry of Energy together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — to draw the world’s maximum attention to this situation,” Zelenskyy said.

• On September 29, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held a meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which has been in blackout since September 23.
• On September 30, President Zelenskyy spoke with UN Secretary General António Guterres about the weeklong blackout at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.