Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Loses External Power, Backup Diesel Generators Running

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, which is under Russian control, lost its external power supply on Sunday, 8 November, according to the Russian-installed management of the facility. The incident comes as both sides in Russia's war against Ukraine continue to strike energy infrastructure.

The management said the Ferosplavna power line was shut down by automatic protection systems because of damage. The statement was posted on MAX, a Russian state-backed messaging app. Backup diesel generators are powering the equipment needed for the station's safe operation.

Plant staff are monitoring all operational parameters, and all necessary measures to keep the power units in a safe condition are being taken, the management said. It added that radiation levels at the site and in the surveillance zone were normal.

Attacks on energy facilities

Separately, a Russian overnight attack on energy facilities in Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region left more than 600,000 people without electricity, Ukrainian power company DTEK said on Sunday. The company said important energy facilities in the region were damaged.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had hit energy infrastructure used by the Ukrainian military, as well as a container ship delivering weapons and military equipment to Ukraine south-west of the Black Sea port city of Odesa. The ministry also said it struck a power substation in Ukraine's Zhytomyr region that supplied electricity to Ukraine's defense industry.

One person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Kursk region, regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Sunday. The drone hit a tractor that was working in the village of Pervomayskoe, killing a 40-year-old man.