KIEV (AP) – Ukraine’s atomic power operator said Sunday that the last reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been shut down after the plant was reconnected to the electricity grid.
The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant was disconnected from the grid last week after all its power lines were disconnected as a result of fighting in the area, and was operating in “island mode” for several days, generating electricity for crucial cooling systems from its only remaining reactor in operation.
Nuclear operator Energoatom said that one of the power lines was restored late Saturday, allowing plant operators to shut down the last reactor.
The company said the risk remains high that outside power is cut again, in which case the plant would have to fire up emergency diesel generators to keep the reactors cool and prevent a nuclear meltdown. The company’s chief told The Associated Press on Thursday that the plant only has diesel fuel for 10 days.
The plant, one of the 10 biggest atomic power stations in the world, has been seized by Russian forces since the early stages of the war. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling around the plant that has damaged the power lines connecting it to the grid.
In a statement early Sunday, Energoatom urged Russian forces to leave the Zaporizhzhia plant and allow for the creation of a “demilitarized zone” around it.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog which has two experts at the plant, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Its director has called for a safe zone around the plant to avert a disaster.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president says the country’s army has reclaimed around ‘2,000 kilometers’ of territory from Russian forces in Kharkiv amid reports of Russia’s redeployment of its forces from the northeastern region.
“For the moment, since the beginning of September, around 2,000 kilometers has been liberated,” Volodymir Zelensky said in an evening address.
He did not specify whether he was talking about square kilometers, but on Thursday, the Ukrainian army’s commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said their troops had recaptured 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles) of territory from Russian forces.
“These last days, the Russian army has shown us its best (side) -- its back,” Zelensky added. “After all, it’s a good choice for them to flee...There is no place in Ukraine for the occupiers. There never will be.”
Ukraine’s army announced a counteroffensive focusing on Kharkiv at the beginning of September.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the success of the counteroffensive in Kharkiv has shown that Ukraine could beat Moscow’s forces, but Kiev still needs more weapons from its Western allies.
Amid the Ukrainian Army’s allegations of a Russian pullout from Khakiv, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces there were just going through a “redeployment” process.
“In order to achieve the goals of the special military operation, a decision was made to regroup troops in the areas of Balakleya and Izyum in order to build up efforts in the Donetsk direction,” the Russian military said in a statement.
The troops stationed in the area have been redeployed over the past three days into territory belonging to the Donetsk People’s Republic, the ministry added.
During the operation, the military has performed a “number of distracting and demonstration activities imitating the real action of troops,” it noted.