Russia’s Strikes on Ukraine's Power Grid Put Europe’s Nuclear Safety at Risk, Ukraine Warns

Ukraine has formally accused the Russian Federation of “deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe” following precision strikes against power substations that supply two of the nation's major nuclear facilities.

On November 8, Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister, called for an urgent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors after the attacks impacted substations connected to both the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants.

“These were not accidental but well-planned strikes,” Sybiha stated via X, pressing “all states that value nuclear safety, particularly China and India, to demand Russia stop reckless attacks on nuclear energy that risk a catastrophic incident.”

Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has restored its backup power source for the first time in six months. This was achieved through the repair of the 330-kilovolt "Ferosplavna-1" line, a maintenance operation conducted under a localized ceasefire arrangement monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This development was confirmed by Reuters and an official IAEA statement on November 8.

The IAEA reported that repair work commenced on the morning of November 8, approximately three kilometers from the plant site. A section of the area was cleared of mines to enable technicians to fix a damaged cable situated between two pylons, thereby restoring transmission along the “Ferosplavna-1” line, which had been non-operational since May 7.

With this repair, the nuclear plant now operates with two external power sources: the primary 750-kilovolt “Dniprovska” line, which was restored in late October, and the newly reinstated 330-kilovolt backup line.

Earlier, it was reported that three unmanned aerial vehicles were detected over the Doel Nuclear Power Plant in Belgium.

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