The last functioning reactor at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was shut down after shelling caused a fire, and the UN’s nuclear regulator was due to brief the Security Council on the crisis on Tuesday.
Shortly after its February invasion, Moscow largely seized control of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions of southern Ukraine and is now seeking to include them in Russia through referendums — as it did in Crimea in 2014.
Russia also blamed Western sanctions for halting gas supplies to Germany, and adding to the crisis in Europe, there are fears of a nuclear disaster at Zaporizhia – Europe’s largest nuclear facility.
“Today the final power transmission line connecting the power plant to Ukraine’s energy system was damaged by another provocative Russian shelling,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech on Monday.
“Due to Russian provocation, the Zaporizhia plant is one step away from a radiation catastrophe.”
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has come under fire in recent weeks, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for the attacks as fears of a possible nuclear incident mounted.
The state-owned Ukrainian energy company Energoatom announced on Monday that the last functioning reactor – Power Unit No. 6 – was taken off the grid because shelling had started a fire.
The IAEA said it had been informed by Ukraine that the line would be reconnected once the fire was out.
The nuclear watchdog was due to release a report on Tuesday about its mission at the plant over the past week, with its boss Rafael Grossi also due to brief the UN Security Council on the situation.
In 1986, Ukraine – then part of the Soviet Union – was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded, releasing radiation into the atmosphere.
The attacks on the ZNPP have drawn comparisons to that catastrophe, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday accused Russia of “reckless behavior”.
– Referendum suspended in Kherson –
After Russia failed to capture Kyiv in the first weeks of the war, it concentrated its attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine.
Authorities deployed by Moscow in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Monday indicated plans for a referendum on joining Russia had been delayed.
Kirill Stremousov, a pro-Moscow official in Kherson, told Russian state television that the referendum plans were on hold – but later moderated his comments by saying it was not a pause, without giving a date for the vote.
“The referendum will definitely take place. Nobody will cancel it,” Stremousov said in a video posted on Telegram.
Ukrainian forces have claimed gains in their counter-offensive in the south, saying they have retaken several areas and destroyed targets, including a warehouse containing referendum ballots.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry continued to inflict heavy casualties on the Ukrainian army, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
At his vineyard in southern Ukraine, near the town of Mykolaiv, Pavlo Magalias oversaw the harvest of his grapes while the sound of artillery echoed behind him.
“I’m the winemaker closest to the front,” says the 59-year-old, originally from Moldova.
Despite the bombs, Magalias said he never thought of leaving.
“The war will not kill everyone,” he told the AFP news agency. “Life will win.”
– Europe’s energy crisis –
Russia is a major energy exporter and has cut gas supplies to Europe following Western sanctions over the invasion.
Electricity bills have skyrocketed across Europe and have already fueled inflation.
The Kremlin has blamed the “collective West – in this case the European Union, Canada and Britain” for halting Russian gas supplies to Germany after key infrastructure was indefinitely closed for repairs.
Fear of a crippling winter gas shortage in Europe is growing.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that two nuclear power plants would be kept on standby for electricity beyond the end of the year “in case of need” – and thus in part delaying a phase-out of nuclear energy planned under former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany put coal-fired power plants mothballed back into operation before winter and filled gas storage facilities to protect itself from an energy shortage.
Earlier Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, who said France was ready to supply more gas so Germany could export more electricity.
