The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been reconnected to the energy grid after the longest blackout to date, according to Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk.
The plant, located in the Zaporizhzhia region’s Enerhodar, has been under Russian occupation since the start of the 2022 invasion, with recent shelling cutting it off from the power grid since Sept. 23 and reigniting fears of a nuclear disaster.
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Hrynchuk wrote on Thursday that the latest blackout was the 10th such incident, but energy workers have repaired one line while work on another is underway to reconnect it to Ukraine’s energy grid.
“After the completion of the repair of the 750 kV ‘Dniprovska’ line, the repair of the 330 kV ‘Ferrosplavna’ line is underway,” Hrynchuk wrote on Facebook.
The repair work was made possible by a temporary local ceasefire.
Hrynchuk said Ukraine has repaired the lines 42 times since the full-scale invasion started and blamed Russian troops for the continuous shelling that disconnected the plant.
“The reason for the month-long power outage was the actions of Russian occupation troops, who systematically shell and damage power lines connecting the Zaporizhzhia NPP to the unified power system of Ukraine,” she added.
The ZNPP was one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants, capable of generating 5.7 gigawatts (GW) of energy with its six reactors.
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For context, Estonia’s total installed generation capacity was 2.3 GW as of January 2021, according to an Estonian energy operator.
The loss of Ukraine’s largest power plant has exacerbated its energy crisis caused by Russia’s targeted attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, which hit its peak in summer 2024 and has recently restarted ahead of the upcoming winter.
The plant was reportedly included in the US peace proposal pitched to Kyiv and Moscow earlier this year – where the US would control the plant as a neutral zone, supplying electricity to both Ukrainian-controlled and Russian-controlled areas.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Moscow received no such proposal.
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