Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and officials from the UN nuclear agency are warning of growing safety risks at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been without power for over a week.
While International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated that there is no immediate risk to the plant, he warned that the current setup is “clearly not a sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety,” The Associated Press reported.
In a statement late on Tuesday, he maintained that the generators were holding up.
“The current status of the reactor units and spent fuel is stable as long as the emergency diesel generators are able to provide sufficient power to maintain essential safety-related functions and cooling,” he said, adding that he was in touch with both Ukrainian and Russian officials about reconnecting the plant to mainline power.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said its emergency generators, which cool the facility’s reactors, were working beyond their intended capacity.
FILE: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a press conference during his visit to Vienna, Austria, June 16, 2025.
AP Photo / Heinz-Peter Bader, File
“The generators and the plant were not designed for this,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, describing the situation as “critical.”
According to the Guardian, he said that Russian artillery was preventing repairs to a power line used to cool the reactors. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed it on Ukrainian shelling, telling reporters on Wednesday it was “stupid to accuse the Russian side of shelling the plant it controls.”
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Zaporizhzhia is one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. It was seized by Russian forces days into the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
There are four nuclear plants in Ukraine, but Zaporizhzhia is the only one under Russian control.
Zaporizhzhia has lost power before; over the course of the war, it’s been cut 10 times, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
A team from the agency stationed at the plant stated that there is sufficient fuel onsite to operate the generators for 10 days.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, is seen in the background of the shallow Kakhovka Reservoir after the dam collapse, in Energodar, Russian-occupied Ukraine, Friday, June 9, 2023. The plant has been under Russian occupation since 2022.
AP Photo / Kateryna Klochko
Eight emergency diesel generators are operating, with nine additional units in standby mode and three in maintenance, according to the IAEA.
It said that over the past week, the plant has been alternating those in use and servicing idle generators in an effort to ensure continuous availability.
Fears over the nuclear plant’s safety come after multiple sightings of what European leaders say are Russian drones entering foreign airspace.
Shaken by these breaches, leaders met on Wednesday in Denmark for two summits focused on security, defence and the war in Ukraine.
On Sunday, the Danish Defence Ministry said that it had again observed drones at several of its armed forces’ locations overnight, a day after NATO announced it would enhance its vigilance in the Baltic Sea region.
Danish police and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service are present at DSB on Kystvejen near Copenhagen Airport on Sept. 23, 2025, after drones flew over Copenhagen Airport the night before, resulting in the airspace being closed for four hours.
Steven Knap/Ritzau Scanpix via AP
It marked the latest unexplained drone activity after several sightings, including over five Danish airports, the week before, raising concerns about security in northern Europe amid suspected growing Russian aggression.
Drones were spotted flying in Danish airspace over Copenhagen Airport in late September, grounding flights and resulting in a total closure of the airport as concerns swirled that Russia could be behind the flyover.
Police stated that there was no indication that the operators of two to three drones intended to cause harm to anyone, and that the drones disappeared after several hours, according to the AP.
— With files from The Associated Press
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