Ukraine and other parts of Europe experienced power supply problems, and the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine, which is home to a largely paralyzed nuclear power plant, suffered a temporary blackout on Sunday.
Only one of the six reactors at the Zaporizhia plant was connected to the electricity grid, and the main Russian pipeline that transports natural gas to Germany remained closed.
Fighting in Ukraine and disputes over gas pipelines are the factors behind electricity and natural gas shortages that have worsened as the war in Ukraine, which began on February 24, drags on.
Both issues will be a focus this week.
Inspectors from the UN nuclear agency are scheduled to brief the Security Council on Tuesday about their inspection and safeguard visit to the Zaporizhia plant.
Meanwhile, the energy ministers of the European Union scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s electricity market, which according to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “no longer works ”.
Much of the Zaporizhia region, including the key city of Melitopol, lost power on Sunday.
But service was gradually being restored, said Vladimir Rogov, the head of the Russian-installed local administration in Enerhodar, the city where the nuclear power plant is located. To the southwest, a blackout also occurred in several parts of the port city of Kherson, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
Although Rogov said no new shelling was reported in the central Zaporizhia area on Sunday, the effects of previous attacks linger.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday that the plant was disconnected from its last primary external power line and that one reactor was offline due to grid restrictions. Another reactor was still running and producing electricity for cooling and other essential safety functions at the plant, as well as for homes, factories and other users through a standby power line, the IAEA said.
Russian forces have held control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, since early March, and its Ukrainian personnel continue to operate there.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said he will brief the UN Security Council on Tuesday about the mission he led to the plant last week. The 14-member delegation braved gunfire and artillery blasts to reach the plant last Thursday, after months of negotiations to allow passage across front lines.
Without blaming either side in the conflict, Grossi said his biggest concerns are the physical integrity of the plant, its power supply and the condition of its personnel.
In general, Europe’s energy picture remains clouded by the war in Ukraine.
Just hours before Gazprom was due to resume natural gas supplies to Germany via a major pipeline after a three-day suspension, the company announced on Friday that it would not be able to do so until oil leaks from the turbines are fixed. .
It is the latest development in a saga in which Gazprom has cited technical problems as a reason for reducing gas flows through Nord Stream 1, explanations that German authorities have dismissed as a cover for a power play. Germany’s Siemens Energy — which made the turbines used by the pipeline — dismissed Gazprom’s rationale for the shutdown, saying leaks from the turbines can be fixed while gas is still flowing through the pipeline.
Von der Leyen blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine for Europe’s energy crisis. With a view to the meeting of the EU energy ministers next Friday, the official said that the prices of electricity and natural gas must be decoupled, and that she is in favor of putting a cap on the prices of Russian gas exported to Europe. through gas pipelines.
Natural gas is one of the main fuels used in electricity generation and is one of Russia’s main sources of income, along with oil exports.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his late-night video message on Sunday that his country’s forces had retaken control of two settlements in southern Ukraine and one in the breakaway eastern Donetsk region, without giving more details.
On the battlefield, Russian shells hit the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight, damaging a medical facility, the city’s mayor said on Sunday.
Mykolaiv and its surrounding region have been under daily attack for weeks. On Saturday, a child was killed and five others were injured in rocket attacks in the region, Gov. Vitaliy Kim said.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych did not report any injuries in the overnight attack, which he said also damaged homes. Mykolaiv, which lies 30 kilometers (20 miles) upstream from the Black Sea on the South Bug River, is a major port and shipbuilding center.