(Kyiv) Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russian forces, has “lost connection again” to the electricity grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose experts are on site, announced on Saturday. square.
Posted at 8:07
Updated at 2:29 p.m.
Earlier in the day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had offered his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Turkey’s mediation in the crisis around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, located in southern Ukraine.
The disconnection of the plant, which had already occurred on August 25, occurred “after new bombardments in the area”, according to the IAEA.
However, the plant continues to operate “thanks to an emergency line” which supplies it, thus allowing the cooling of the nuclear fuel, specifies the IAEA.
A total loss of power to the plant – if the power arriving from outside is cut off and the emergency generators are not working – could lead to overheating of the installations.
For weeks, bombings have regularly targeted the site of the power plant, of which Russia and Ukraine mutually accuse each other, at the risk of a major nuclear disaster.
Strikes and fighting also continued elsewhere in Ukraine on Saturday.
In the Donbass (east) coveted by Moscow, the main front line, “the Russian army is attacking in the directions of Bakhmout and Avdiivka”, said the Ukrainian army in a statement, which also reported “five strikes” Ukrainian Air Force near Donetsk and Pivdenny.
In the center, Russian strikes killed a nine-year-old boy and seriously injured 10 people in Zelenodolsk, in the Dnipropetrovsk region (center), according to Ukrainian authorities, who also reported “heavy shelling in the Novgorod region- Siversk” (north), near the Russian border, with “more than 50 explosions”, without victim.
Fighting near the power plant
Earlier today, in a telephone interview, “President Erdogan told (Vladimir Putin) that Turkey can play a facilitating role on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, as it did on the agreement on cereals” in July, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
The Kremlin has confirmed a discussion between MM. Putin and Erdogan, indicating that they had confirmed that they wanted to “increase their economic and commercial ties”, via “joint strategic projects in the field of energy”.
The Turkish press release does not specify whether Ankara has also formally offered its mediation to Ukraine.
Turkey wants to present a proposal providing, as it did for the grain agreement, for the creation in Istanbul of an office dedicated to dialogue between international organizations, Russia and Ukraine to find a point of agreement on the issue of technical control and inspections of the plant.
Turkey has good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv. While Ankara provided Ukraine with military drones, it refused to join Western sanctions against Russia after Ukraine was invaded.
In July, an agreement between Russia and Ukraine obtained following Turkish mediation allowed the resumption of Ukrainian wheat exports, hampered by the Russian maritime blockade imposed on Kyiv in the Black Sea.
The situation of the Zaporijjia power plant, which fell into the hands of Russian troops in March, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, worries many international leaders.
In its daily update on operations in Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that troops in Moscow had “repelled” the previous day an attempted amphibious assault by Ukrainian forces who “again tried to seize » from the plant.
On Friday, Kyiv said it had hit a Russian base in Energodar, a town near the plant, from where it accuses Russia of having withdrawn its weapons before its inspection Thursday by an IAEA team.
After the inspection, the director of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said on Thursday that he found that the “physical integrity” of the plant had been “violated on several occasions”. It is “something that cannot continue to happen,” he added, without naming the responsible party.
“Winter of War”
On the equally thorny issue of gas, after the announcement on Friday evening by the Russian group Gazprom of the extension of the suspension of its exports to Europe via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the European Union affirmed on Saturday to be ready for a total cut off of Russian gas.
“We are well prepared to resist Russia’s extreme use of the gas weapon,” said European Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. “We ask the Russians to respect the contracts, but if they don’t, we are ready to react”.
According to Gazprom, Nord Stream, which connects Russia to northern Germany, must be “completely” stopped until a turbine is repaired. The Russian group has not specified a date for the resumption of activity.
Gazprom’s announcement came after the G7 countries decided on Friday to target Russia’s energy windfall by capping the price of its oil.
On Friday, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had estimated that “it would be time” to put in place a cap on the price of gas imported by pipeline from Russia.
In the EU, gas stocks are currently replenished “at about 80%,” thanks to the diversification “of suppliers, even if the situation varies from one country to another, indicated Mr. Gentiloni.
Sign of the gravity of the situation, Sweden, apprehending a “winter of war”, indicated on Saturday that it was going to provide financial guarantees to energy companies in the Nordic and Baltic countries, for an amount of several “billions of dollars”, in order to avoid a financial crisis triggered by the energy shortage in Europe.