The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant has been under Russian control since March 2022
The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) cannot “exist” unless controlled by Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed without explaining the reasoning. The facility, the largest of its kind in Europe, has been under Russian control since March 2022.
Zaporozhye Region, where the plant is located, eventually voted to join Russia in a referendum that Kiev never recognized. Both Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of attacking the facility and endangering its security. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deployed a monitoring mission to the ZNPP in September 2022, which has been present on the ground ever since.
According to Zelensky, the station poses a “problem” to both Russia and Ukraine but in his view only Kiev can restore its operation. “Without Ukraine, its existence is impossible in principle,” the Ukrainian leader claimed, without providing any reasoning for such a statement.
Instead, he argued that “money and specialists” were needed to restore the power plant and it would take “a few years” before it could be operational again. The Ukrainian leader then stated that the station lacks technical water to cool its reactors because of the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River. He went on to state that repairs at the station would involve “lots of capital-intensive processes.”
“This is our station. Lost money, lost opportunities,” Zelensky maintained.
The power plant has been largely dormant since mid-2023, due to the threat of Ukrainian artillery and drone attacks and the disruption of water supplies. Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of “very dangerous terrorist acts” perpetrated by Kiev’s forces against the facility.
In January, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Ukrainian forces had sought to strike the station with eight drones. All of the unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down by the Russian air defenses at that time.
The ZNPP is currently controlled by a subsidiary of the Russian state energy corporation Rosatom. Its CEO, Ramil Galiev, stated in December that his company plans to restore the plant’s operation as soon as its security is sufficiently ensured. The plans also involve building a new pumping system to refill the technical water reservoirs near the station.
“There are no unresolvable issues,” Galiev said back in December.
