Russia Accused of Severing Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant's Link, as Energy Remains a 'Key Battleground' (usnews.com)
(Sunday October 12, 2025 @10:40PM (EditorDavid)
from the power-plays dept.)
- Reference: 0179766196
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/13/0138207/russia-accused-of-severing-ukrainian-nuclear-power-plants-link-as-energy-remains-a-key-battleground
- Source link: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-10-12/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-deliberately-severing-external-link-to-zaporizhzhia-plant
It's the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. But "Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russia on Sunday of deliberately severing the external power line to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station," [1]reports Reuters , "in order to link the plant to Moscow's power grid."
> Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow was attempting to test a reconnection to Russia's grid. Ukraine has long feared that Moscow would try to redirect the plant's output to its grid. But Russian officials have denied any intention of trying to restart the plant, seized by Moscow's forces in the early weeks of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
>
> The plant produces no electricity at the moment, but has been without an external electricity source for nearly three weeks. Officials have relied on emergency diesel generators to secure the power needed to keep the fuel cool inside the facility and guard against a meltdown. "Russia intentionally broke the plant's connection with the Ukrainian grid in order to forcefully test reconnection with the Russian grid," Sybiha wrote on X in English. He denounced the "attempted theft of a peaceful Ukrainian nuclear facility".... Each side has accused the other of shelling that caused the line outage.
Russia's continued occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant deprived Ukraine of a quarter of its generating capacity, according to [2]a report from the Brookings Institute — calling Ukraine's energy sector "a key battleground" in the war.
> The Russian invasion began on the very day that Ukraine launched its so-called island test. This involved completely isolating the Ukrainian and Moldovan power systems from their neighbors to check whether the system was stable. This is a mandatory procedure prior to synchronization with the European grid... Despite this, Ukraine managed not only to militarily defend itself but also to maintain grid stability in wartime conditions and implement all the solutions necessary for an unprecedented synchronization on March 16, 2022.
In 2022 a former commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (from 1998 to 2007) even argued [3]in the Wall Street Journal that "An unappreciated motive for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is that Kyiv [4]was positioning itself to break from its longtime Russian nuclear suppliers ..."
> At the time of the invasion, Westinghouse supplied fuel to six of the 15 [Ukrainian] nuclear reactors and could displace the Russians in all of them. The U.S. government had been highly supportive of this effort, and these fuel contracts represented hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly lost sales to Atomstroyexport [a nuclear exporter that's a subsidiary of Russian state corporation Rosatom]. By seizing the nuclear plants, Russia is able to retake the market for Ukrainian nuclear fuel.
>
> Most important, Westinghouse, with support from the U.S., was in a position to build nuclear reactors in Ukraine over the next two decades. On Aug. 31, 2021, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and her Ukrainian counterpart, Herman Halushchenko, signed a strategic cooperation agreement to build five nuclear units with a value, according to the World Nuclear Association, of more than $30 billion. The timing is telling. In November 2021, Ukraine's leaders signed a deal with Westinghouse to start construction on what they hoped would be at least five nuclear units — the first tranche of a program that could more than double the number of plants in the country, with a potential total value approaching $100 billion. Ukraine clearly intended that Russia receive none of that business.
Brookings looks at how Ukraine's energy sector [5]has fared during the war :
> The Ukrainian energy sector was designed to be oversized with significant redundancy in order to meet huge Soviet-era industrial demand as well as to make it more resilient to a future world war... A radical change did not occur until 2014, when Ukrainians overthrew the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych. In the decade since then, Ukraine has pursued a policy of European Union (EU) integration with determination and without interruption... The real prospect of an improvement in the quality of life and development of Ukraine through integration with the EU and NATO was unacceptable to Russia, which first annexed Crimea and covertly attacked the Ukrainian Donbas, before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russia's in-depth knowledge of the Ukrainian power system, dating back to the Soviet Union, was used to carry out a well-planned operation to cut off electricity to Ukrainians.
>
> The aim was to break the morale of Ukrainians to continue defending themselves and to collapse the economy so that it could not support the Ukrainian military effort. Ironically, however, the size of the energy system, which had been scaled up in case of war, and the enormous Western support, unexpectedly ensured its resilience to Russian attacks.
Although they note that "During the first two years of the war, Russia [6]fired nearly 2,000 missiles and drones at Ukrainian energy infrastructure... "
And this week in Ukraine, damage to substations, power plants and oil depot temporarily cut off electricity for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian homes and businesses, [7]reports the UN . "As colder weather sets in, strikes on critical infrastructure are deepening humanitarian needs," warned a UN spokesperson on Thursday...
[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-10-12/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-deliberately-severing-external-link-to-zaporizhzhia-plant
[2] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraines-energy-sector-is-a-key-battleground-in-the-war-with-russia/
[3] https://www.wsj.com/opinion/russia-sees-gold-in-ukraine-nuclear-plants-chernobyl-reactor-fuel-waste-disposal-11646946568
[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/03/20/1934212/after-about-600-hours-64-workers-at-ukraines-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-finally-relieved
[5] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraines-energy-sector-is-a-key-battleground-in-the-war-with-russia/
[6] https://dixigroup.org/en/over-two-years-russia-has-carried-out-25-massive-attacks-on-ukraines-energy-sector/
[7] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166069
> Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow was attempting to test a reconnection to Russia's grid. Ukraine has long feared that Moscow would try to redirect the plant's output to its grid. But Russian officials have denied any intention of trying to restart the plant, seized by Moscow's forces in the early weeks of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
>
> The plant produces no electricity at the moment, but has been without an external electricity source for nearly three weeks. Officials have relied on emergency diesel generators to secure the power needed to keep the fuel cool inside the facility and guard against a meltdown. "Russia intentionally broke the plant's connection with the Ukrainian grid in order to forcefully test reconnection with the Russian grid," Sybiha wrote on X in English. He denounced the "attempted theft of a peaceful Ukrainian nuclear facility".... Each side has accused the other of shelling that caused the line outage.
Russia's continued occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant deprived Ukraine of a quarter of its generating capacity, according to [2]a report from the Brookings Institute — calling Ukraine's energy sector "a key battleground" in the war.
> The Russian invasion began on the very day that Ukraine launched its so-called island test. This involved completely isolating the Ukrainian and Moldovan power systems from their neighbors to check whether the system was stable. This is a mandatory procedure prior to synchronization with the European grid... Despite this, Ukraine managed not only to militarily defend itself but also to maintain grid stability in wartime conditions and implement all the solutions necessary for an unprecedented synchronization on March 16, 2022.
In 2022 a former commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (from 1998 to 2007) even argued [3]in the Wall Street Journal that "An unappreciated motive for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is that Kyiv [4]was positioning itself to break from its longtime Russian nuclear suppliers ..."
> At the time of the invasion, Westinghouse supplied fuel to six of the 15 [Ukrainian] nuclear reactors and could displace the Russians in all of them. The U.S. government had been highly supportive of this effort, and these fuel contracts represented hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly lost sales to Atomstroyexport [a nuclear exporter that's a subsidiary of Russian state corporation Rosatom]. By seizing the nuclear plants, Russia is able to retake the market for Ukrainian nuclear fuel.
>
> Most important, Westinghouse, with support from the U.S., was in a position to build nuclear reactors in Ukraine over the next two decades. On Aug. 31, 2021, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and her Ukrainian counterpart, Herman Halushchenko, signed a strategic cooperation agreement to build five nuclear units with a value, according to the World Nuclear Association, of more than $30 billion. The timing is telling. In November 2021, Ukraine's leaders signed a deal with Westinghouse to start construction on what they hoped would be at least five nuclear units — the first tranche of a program that could more than double the number of plants in the country, with a potential total value approaching $100 billion. Ukraine clearly intended that Russia receive none of that business.
Brookings looks at how Ukraine's energy sector [5]has fared during the war :
> The Ukrainian energy sector was designed to be oversized with significant redundancy in order to meet huge Soviet-era industrial demand as well as to make it more resilient to a future world war... A radical change did not occur until 2014, when Ukrainians overthrew the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych. In the decade since then, Ukraine has pursued a policy of European Union (EU) integration with determination and without interruption... The real prospect of an improvement in the quality of life and development of Ukraine through integration with the EU and NATO was unacceptable to Russia, which first annexed Crimea and covertly attacked the Ukrainian Donbas, before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russia's in-depth knowledge of the Ukrainian power system, dating back to the Soviet Union, was used to carry out a well-planned operation to cut off electricity to Ukrainians.
>
> The aim was to break the morale of Ukrainians to continue defending themselves and to collapse the economy so that it could not support the Ukrainian military effort. Ironically, however, the size of the energy system, which had been scaled up in case of war, and the enormous Western support, unexpectedly ensured its resilience to Russian attacks.
Although they note that "During the first two years of the war, Russia [6]fired nearly 2,000 missiles and drones at Ukrainian energy infrastructure... "
And this week in Ukraine, damage to substations, power plants and oil depot temporarily cut off electricity for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian homes and businesses, [7]reports the UN . "As colder weather sets in, strikes on critical infrastructure are deepening humanitarian needs," warned a UN spokesperson on Thursday...
[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-10-12/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-deliberately-severing-external-link-to-zaporizhzhia-plant
[2] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraines-energy-sector-is-a-key-battleground-in-the-war-with-russia/
[3] https://www.wsj.com/opinion/russia-sees-gold-in-ukraine-nuclear-plants-chernobyl-reactor-fuel-waste-disposal-11646946568
[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/03/20/1934212/after-about-600-hours-64-workers-at-ukraines-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-finally-relieved
[5] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ukraines-energy-sector-is-a-key-battleground-in-the-war-with-russia/
[6] https://dixigroup.org/en/over-two-years-russia-has-carried-out-25-massive-attacks-on-ukraines-energy-sector/
[7] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/10/1166069
Spoils of war? (Score:3)
I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised... Russia currently controls it, and isn't going to give it up without a fight... Since its an asset they've taken control of they'll definitely try to leverage it for their own benefit. If Ukraine doesn't want it to be used by russia, they'll need to blow it up (risking a meltdown), or blow up the external grid connections to prevent its use.
Re: (Score:2)
> Since its an asset they've taken control of they'll definitely try to leverage it for their own benefit.
How? The NPP is not operational and not likely to recover, remember when the ruzzkie terrorists blew up the Khakovka dam, which was providing water for the plant and left it without cooling?
The only reason this is done is to untie the hands of the terrorist putin state to bomb Ukraine's power infrastructure.
> Russia currently controls it, and isn't going to give it up without a fight
Kind of like the USSR didn't give up Eastern Europe without a fight?
Re: Spoils of war? (Score:1)
Why would Russians blow up the dam which then flooded their own troops out of the area?
Why would they shell the ZPP which they themselves control?
Every word which The Ukrainian Banderaites have uttered since the start of the SMO has been shown to be a lie.
Re: (Score:2)
Kind of like the USSR didn't give up Eastern Europe without a fight?
But the USSR did give up Eastern Europe without a fight. First was the Sinatra Doctrine for the Warsaw Pact: [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Then Mikhail Gorbachev dissolved the Soviet Union and most states all declared independence soon after: [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Gorbachev gave the West everything beyond it's wildest dreams. Yet the West never embraced Russia, continued to treat them as an enemy and sought to further
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinatra_Doctrine
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union#Chronology_of_declarations
Re: (Score:2)
Definitely don't want to attack the plant since it sounds like one of the reactors is still in a hot shutdown and several other reactors are still fueled. By all means bomb the shit out of any power lines and substations that Russia attempts to build to connect to the power plant.