ISTANBUL: Russia will be unable to keep control over Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Eastern Ukraine because its troops are being pushed away closer to the Russian borders, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Monday.
When Russia seized Crimea, all the international representative offices accepted its control of the area and withdraw from there, but now that story would not be repeated, Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with the Kyiv-based TV channel Freedom.
The news agency Ukrinform also quoted him as saying that the world clearly declared that Russian atomic energy company Rosatom has no legal jurisdiction over the Zaporizhzhia power plant and it solely belonged to Ukraine.
Nuclear plants lose power after Russian attacks
The statement comes after four Ukrainian nuclear plants, including the one in Zaporizhzhia, lost power as the frequency in the energy system has decreased following Russian attacks in several areas on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s national nuclear energy company Energoatom said in a statement on Instagram that an emergency protection system was activated at the Khnelnytsky, Rivne, and South Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which automatically disconnected all power units.
It said that the external supply of Zaporizhzhia power plant had been cut off.
It added that there was a complete blackout in the station. Therefore, all generators have been operationalized.
Russia seized the plant in March, after it started aggression against Ukraine. Zaporizhzhia, one of the biggest power plants in the world produced 20 percent of electricity in Ukraine before the war started on 24 February. –APP/AA
