Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses its outside power supply

The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine lost its connection to the outside electricity grid on Sunday, the plant's Russian-installed management said. It said the Ferosplavna power line was disconnected by protective systems after damage and that backup diesel generators were supplying the electricity needed to keep safety systems running.

In a statement, the management said staff were monitoring equipment and taking measures to keep the units in a safe condition. It said radiation levels at the plant and in the surrounding surveillance zone were normal. Those claims come from administrators installed after Russia seized the plant and have not been independently confirmed in full by international inspectors in the initial Sunday accounts.

Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear power station. It has been one of the most closely watched safety risks of the war because fighting around the site has repeatedly threatened the off-site power that cooling and other safety systems depend on. When outside lines fail, diesel generators are the backup. They can keep essential systems running, but they are not meant to be a long-term substitute for a stable grid connection.

Sunday's report came as Ukrainian officials and energy companies described broader Russian strikes on power infrastructure that left hundreds of thousands of households without electricity in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions. Those blackouts are a related part of the wider energy war, not the same event as the plant's lost external line.

Whether outside power has been restored, and what caused the damage to the Ferosplavna line, were not clearly established in the first Sunday statements.