Russia-Ukraine war: We will not stop until Crimea is liberated, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeast Ukraine are preparing to connect to Crimea and are damaging the plant by reorienting its electricity production, Ukrainian operator Energoatom warned on Tuesday.

It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and was occupied by Russia early in its invasion. Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other for attacks on the plant last week.

“The Russian military at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are implementing the program of (Russian operator) Rosatom aimed at connecting the plant to the Crimean electricity grid,” Energoatom president Petro Kotin told Ukrainian television on Tuesday.

“To do this, you must first damage the power lines of the plant connected to the Ukrainian energy system. From August 7 to 9, the Russians have already damaged three power lines. At the moment, the plant is operating with only one production line, which is an extremely dangerous way of working,” he added.

“When the last production line is disconnected, the plant will be powered by generators running on diesel. Everything will then depend on their reliability and fuel stocks,” Mr Kotin warned.