Key developments on Feb. 14: * Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus hit by Russian drone, Zelensky releases video of explosion * "Peace deal can't be signed in Munich" — Zelensky sets out condition for talks with Putin * "Crazy" Putin could attack NATO in 2026, Russia building up troops in Belarus, Zelensky says * 4,
"Russia continues to expand its army and shows no change in its deranged, anti-human state rhetoric," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine's parliament voted in favor of buying two Russian-made reactors from Bulgaria for the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Feb. 11.
The Kyiv Independent’s reporter Oleg Sukhov sat down with Robert Kelley to discuss whether the weapon Ukraine gave up would be of much use now and if the country still has the capacity to produce a nuclear device.
Nuclear power plants in Ukraine reduced electricity production on Nov. 28 as a precautionary measure in response to a Russian mass aerial attack on Ukraine, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Ukraine’s nuclear power plants reduced their electricity production as a precautionary measure due to large-scale missile strikes targeting the country’s energy infrastructure, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on Nov. 17.
Ukraine relies on nuclear power for more than half of its energy production, which is increasingly in demand amid Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
"Russia thinks they are very strong, but if we wanted to seize their nuclear power plant, we would have done it, we could have done it, but we never wanted to do it," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine is set to face its toughest winter since the start of the full-scale invasion as Russia eyes cutting off its nuclear power after already bombing out capacity from half of its electricity generation sector in large-scale air strikes. For now, Russia is not directly striking the plants with missiles
Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov claimed that a Ukrainian drone was neutralized by electronic warfare means near Kurchatov. Its fall allegedly caused explosions at an outbuilding not related to the nuclear plant.
Ukraine is in talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to place foreign observers near its nuclear power plants amid reports Russia is planning to attack the infrastructure connecting the plants to the country's energy grid, an Energy Ministry official said.
Ukraine's state nuclear energy agency Energoatom signed on Sept. 25 a contract worth Hr 509 million ($12.3 million) for the design and construction of a protective structure at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian investigative media outlet Nashi Groshi reported on Sept. 30.
Key developments on Sept. 25: * Russia preparing to attack 3 nuclear plants in Ukraine, Zelensky tells UN * No Russian troops on Vuhledar outskirts, governor claims * Around 20 Russian soldiers captured during operation to recapture Vovchansk aggregate plant, military intelligence claims * Ukraine has 'extensive' 3-year plan for drone, ground robotics production,
Russia is preparing to target three Ukrainian nuclear power plants, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council in New York on Sept. 24. "If Russia is ready to go that far, it means nothing you value matters to Moscow. This kind of Russian cynicism will keep striking if
"In our experience, if Russia takes photos of certain objects, then there is a threat of strikes against the nuclear objects," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Speaking from his own viewpoint, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland has the legal right to down stray Russian missiles and drones that enter Polish airspace. However, he acknowledges that Poland has not yet shot down anything and that Warsaw has not yet made a decision.
The denial came after Oleksandr Kharchenko, managing director of the Energy Industry Research Center, said in a post on Facebook there had been an accident at the plant, citing "two independent sources."
The visit follows allegations from Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials that Ukraine has tried — or intends to try — to attack the plant amid the ongoing Ukrainian incursion in the area. Kyiv has denied the allegations.
A top Ukrainian counter-disinformation official on Aug. 22 refuted Russian President Vladimir Putin's accusations that Kyiv attempted to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
The IAEA chief said he would visit the power station next week to gather information from its managers on whether it had already been targeted. Kyiv has rejected Russian accusations of planning to attack the nuclear plant.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on Aug. 17 that Ukraine is allegedly planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia, which was dismissed by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry a day before.
In a Telegram message at 7:30 a.m. local time, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Serhii Lysak said the fire at the plant had been put out and that radiation levels in the area were normal.
Photos appear to show Russian forces digging trenches near the KNPP as Ukrainian troops reportedly advance within 50 kilometers of the nuclear facility, the BBC said on Aug. 11.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called on both Kyiv and Moscow to "exercise maximum restraint" in order to avoid a nuclear accident as fighting is reportedly ongoing in the region around the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP).
Reports emerged on July 18 that two transformers had burned down days earlier, leading to one of the reactors being disconnected from the energy network.
The document will be mainly focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power station in Europe, which has been under Russian occupation since March 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine's nuclear energy agency Energoatom has lost over Hr 210 billion ($5.2 billion) due to Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Energoatom's acting head Petro Kotin said on June 18.
President Joe Biden on May 13 signed a bipartisan bill that bans Russian imports of enriched uranium, the primary fuel used in nuclear power plants. The move aims to sever one of the remaining major financial channels from the United States to Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
All six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have reached a state of cold shutdown for the first time since October 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a news release on April 13.
Anticipating a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the country’s south, Russia is turning the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in occupied Enerhodar into a ticking time bomb. Repeated Russian shelling from within the plant’s territory, causing one of the reactors to shut down, has put the entire complex’s safety
