Repair crews have completed work on one of the external power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
According to Ukrinform, Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk reported this on Facebook.
“Energy workers have restored power supply to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. This allowed the plant to exit the state of a complete blackout — the tenth since the beginning of the full-scale invasion — which lasted for the past month. Following the completion of repairs on the 750 kV Dniprovska line, work is continuing on the 330 kV Ferospavna line,” she wrote.
Hrynchuk emphasized that the month-long power outage at the ZNPP was caused by the actions of Russian occupation forces, who systematically shell and damage the power lines connecting the plant to Ukraine’s energy system.
“Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian energy workers have restored the plant’s power supply lines 42 times. At the same time, the only way to ensure long-term nuclear safety is the complete demilitarization and de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the return of the facility under the full lawful control of Ukraine’s operator, Energoatom,” Hrynchuk underscored.
As reported, repair work on the power lines supplying the ZNPP began on October 18. The plant had been in blackout mode since September 23, when the last external power line was disconnected. Another line had gone offline in May, and the Russian side provided no safety guarantees for its repair.