The occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s power grid after several hours of downtime, officials in Kiev said on Monday.
Earlier Monday, Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom accused Russia of carrying out attacks that resulted in a power outage.
It was the seventh time the power plant had gone into “blackout mode” since Moscow troops took control in March 2022.
“The station is converting to electricity from Ukraine’s power system,” Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s state grid operator, said in a statement later Monday.
“Despite the enemy’s morning attack, Ukraine’s power system is functioning stably,” Ukrenergo said, adding that there was enough electricity to “meet consumer needs.”
Located in the southeastern Zaporizhia region, the six-reactor facility is the largest in Europe.
The grid operator said that in the eastern region of Dnipro, Moscow’s high-voltage power lines were damaged by the recent attacks.
The Dnipro governor said an airstrike was reported overnight that shot down four Russian missiles and 15 drones, injuring at least eight civilians.
The latest power outage in Zaporizhia was caused by another wave of Russian missile attacks, Energoatom said.
United Nations nuclear chief Rafael Grossi, who has tried to negotiate with both sides to reach an agreement on the plant’s safety, said it was the seventh power outage at the giant nuclear facility during the war.
“The nuclear safety situation at the power plant is extremely vulnerable,” he said on Twitter.
“We now have to agree to protect the plants. This situation cannot go on like this.”
Grossi visited the Moscow-occupied plant in March.
Zaporizhia once provided around 20% of Ukraine’s electricity and continued to function despite frequent shelling for the first few months of the Russian offensive, before ceasing electricity production in September.
Since then, none of the six Soviet-era reactors have generated electricity, but the plant remains connected to Ukraine’s power grid for its own use, particularly to cool the reactors.