Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskyy says Russia engaging in 'radiation blackmail' on Zaporizhzhia facility

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was engaging in “radiation blackmail” regarding the Zaporizhzhia power station. With the facility occupied by Russian forces, Zelenskyy said the safety of the station could not be guaranteed.

On Monday, Zelenskyy met with the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in the Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia, northeast of the plant that is currently under the control of Russian forces, according to media reports. Zelenskyy told Grossi that the staff at the power facility were under constant pressure from Russian occupants, who he said did not uphold the safety rules and interfered in technological processes.

“Without an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and staff from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and adjacent areas, any initiatives on restoring nuclear safety and security are doomed to fail,” said Zelenskyy.

“Holding a nuclear power station hostage for more than a year – this is surely the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of European or worldwide nuclear power,” Zelenskyy later said in his nightly video address.

Russian forces seized the plant at the early onset of the war. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, and both sides have traded blame for shelling that has been taking place close to the facility. The ongoing clashes around the plant as well as the possibility that the plant’s cooling systems could lose power, have raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

The six reactors in the power plant are currently in shutdown mode, and the facility is receiving the electricity it needs to prevent a nuclear meltdown through one remaining power line. The plant has had to resort to emergency diesel generators to power its cooling systems as the power from the main grid was cut by Russian shelling.

On Wednesday, the British defense ministry said in its intelligence bulletin that Russian offensives in the key city of Bakhmut remain at a “reduced level” compared to the previous assaults the weeks before. The ministry said that Ukrainian defense in the area was able to push back fighters from the Russian Wagner mercenary group from the 0506 route, a route that serves as an important supply route for Ukrainian forces.