Vladimir Putin orders seizure of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Before Russia's invasion, the plant produced about one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity and nearly half the energy generated by the country's nuclear power facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government on Wednesday to take control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as the UN nuclear watchdog warned that power supply to the site was “extremely fragile.”

However, the boss of Ukraine’s state energy agency announced he was taking over the plant, which has become a focus of international concern due to the possibility of a nuclear disaster after shelling in the area for which Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other.

Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in March shortly after invading Ukraine, but Ukrainian staff have continued to operate it.

The plant is located in the southern Ukrainian region also called Zaporizhzhia, one of four regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia on Wednesday in a move condemned by Kyiv as an illegal land grab.

“The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is now on the territory of the Russian Federation and, accordingly, should be operated under the supervision of our relevant agencies,” RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying.

Putin later signed a decree that designated the ZNPP “federal property.”

Russia’s nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom said it would conduct an assessment of how to repair damage to the plant’s infrastructure and would transfer all the existing Ukrainian employees to a new Russian-owned organization.

“The new operating organization is designed to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear power plant and the professional activities of the existing plant personnel,” it said in a statement.