The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is occupied by the Russian military, was disconnected from the Ukrainian electricity grid after a Russian missile attack, the state operator of the nuclear power plant Energoatom said in a statement on Thursday, warning of the risk of a major accident, AFP and Reuters reported.

“The last connection between the occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia and the energy grids of Ukraine has been interrupted due to Russian missile fire,” Energoatom said, noting that emergency diesel generators were activated to ensure the plant’s minimum power supply, Energoatom reports. to Agerpres.

“At the moment, the station has been put into power outage mode for the sixth time since its occupation (by Russian troops), and the V and VI reactors have gone into cold shutdown mode,” the operator notes, adding that it is about 18 emergency diesel generators. is turned on to ensure the minimum supply of the power plant with the electricity necessary for its operation. “They will have enough fuel for ten days. The countdown has started,” says Energatom.

“If it is not possible to restore the power plant’s external power supply, an accident with radioactive consequences for the whole world may occur,” the Ukrainian company warns.

Officials installed by Russia in the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region called the shutdown of the power plant by the “Energat” company a “challenge.”

The Russian army occupied this huge nuclear complex in southern Ukraine on March 4, 2022, nine days after the start of the Russian invasion.

The station, which produced 20% of Ukraine’s electricity before the war, continued to operate in the first months of the Russian invasion, despite episodes of bombing, before being shut down in September.

Since then, none of the six Soviet VVER-1000 reactors have produced electricity, but the facility remains connected to the Ukrainian power system and consumes the generated electricity for its own needs.

Earlier, the Ukrainian nuclear company warned that stopping the plant could lead to “gradual degradation of all its systems and equipment.”

Energoatom also expressed concern over the “risk of a nuclear incident” in the event of a disconnection to the last power transmission line connecting the station to the Ukrainian power system.

According to international news agencies, early Thursday, Russia launched a massive wave of missiles at some Ukrainian cities, targeting energy infrastructure and other civilian objects, for the first time in three weeks.