Europe’s largest nuclear facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, has now spent five straight days running on emergency diesel generators, an unprecedented and alarming situation that has reignited international concerns about nuclear safety in the midst of war. The outage, which began on September 23, 2025, has left the plant cut off from Ukraine’s power grid, with both Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for the attacks on power lines that triggered the crisis, according to reports by the Associated Press and other major outlets.
Located near the city of Enerhodar along the Dnieper River, the Zaporizhzhia plant has been under Russian occupation since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion in 2022. Despite its six reactors being in a cold shutdown state—meaning nuclear reactions have stopped—external power remains critical. The plant’s safety and cooling systems, essential for preventing a catastrophic meltdown, depend on a stable electricity supply. Diesel generators, as emphasized by experts and NGOs like Greenpeace Ukraine, are considered a last line of defense, meant only for the most extreme emergencies.
"Emergency diesel generators are considered the last line of defense, used only in extreme circumstances," Jan Vande Putte, a radiation and nuclear energy specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine, told the Associated Press. He added, “These are undoubtedly the most serious and important events since the beginning of the occupation of the ZNPP by Russia in March 2022.”
While the Russian-backed operator of the plant insisted on Telegram that there are “sufficient diesel fuel reserves available on-site to ensure long-term autonomous operation of the generators,” the situation is far from stable. Ukrainian Minister of Energy Svitlana Hrynchuk confirmed the gravity of the crisis, stating, “The plant remains in blackout mode, which is a significant violation of the conditions for its normal operation.” This marks the tenth such blackout since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Greenpeace Ukraine has warned that Russia’s actions may be deliberate, aiming to disconnect the plant from Ukraine’s grid and reconnect it to the Russian-occupied power network. The environmental group claims that Russian engineers have been constructing over 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) of new power lines linking the plant to substations in occupied Melitopol and Mariupol. Satellite imagery, analyzed by Greenpeace, suggests that Russia may be preparing to restart at least one reactor despite the ongoing conflict—an extremely risky move. The Associated Press, however, noted that it could not independently verify these claims.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been closely monitoring the situation, with Director General Rafael Grossi meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow just days ago. Yet, the external power supply remains unrestored. The IAEA has repeatedly warned about the potential for a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl or Fukushima if cooling systems fail and the reactors or spent fuel overheat. The plant’s six reactors, which before the war generated about 20% of Ukraine’s electricity, have not produced power since Russia took control, but their uranium fuel remains onsite and must be managed safely.
The blackout at Zaporizhzhia comes amid a flurry of diplomatic maneuvering. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, after a five-hour meeting with Putin in Moscow on September 26, 2025, claimed that the Russian leader has developed a “very good proposal” to end the war in Ukraine. According to Lukashenko, this plan has already been outlined to and is broadly supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, following a summit in Alaska in August. “President Putin and I discussed it, but I won’t talk about it. The president himself will say,” Lukashenko told Russian TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, as reported by Reuters. “It’s a good proposal for Ukraine – proposals that were heard by Donald Trump in Alaska, among other places, and taken to Washington for consideration and discussion. A very good proposal.”
Lukashenko warned that if Ukraine does not accept these terms, “it will be like it was at the beginning of the special military operation. It will be even worse. They will lose Ukraine.” He also suggested that he, Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy—leaders of the three Slavic states—should sit down for direct talks to reach an agreement. Despite Belarus’s close ties with Russia, Lukashenko has repeatedly tried to position Minsk as a diplomatic hub and mediator, though Western analysts remain skeptical of his neutrality given Belarus’s role in facilitating Russia’s 2022 invasion.
In a move that could further complicate the regional energy landscape, Lukashenko also proposed building a new nuclear power plant in eastern Belarus to supply electricity to Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories. This idea, floated during his recent meeting with Putin, has already sparked debate over Belarus’s true intentions and its ongoing efforts to assert itself as a regional player.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi offered a grim assessment of the front lines. He reported that Russia’s spring and summer offensives in 2025 have largely failed to achieve their objectives, with the active front now stretching 1,250 kilometers and involving some 712,000 Russian personnel. “It can be said that the Russians’ spring and summer campaign has effectively been disrupted,” Syrskyi told reporters, noting that Ukraine has struck 85 military or military-industrial targets inside Russian territory since the summer. Nevertheless, Russia continues to control over 70% of the Donetsk region, though its broader ambitions—including capturing all of Donetsk and creating buffer zones in Sumy and Kharkiv—have not materialized.
Amid these military and diplomatic developments, President Zelenskyy announced a landmark $90 billion arms agreement with the United States, which he described as a “mega deal” for weapons purchases. Technical meetings on the deal are set to begin in late September. The package includes a separate “drone deal” for Ukrainian-made drones to be purchased directly by the U.S., as well as the provision of long-range weapons systems. “We discussed and agreed on the main points with the President (Trump). Now we are moving on to practical implementation,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy also took aim at Hungary, accusing it of conducting “dangerous” intelligence-gathering drone activities over Ukraine. He claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had tracked at least one Hungarian drone, calling such actions “very dangerous things, first and foremost for themselves.” Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has maintained close ties with Russia and has been critical of military aid to Ukraine. In response, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto dismissed Zelenskyy’s concerns, saying the Ukrainian president “lost his mind” and was “seeing things.”
Adding another layer to Ukraine’s evolving defense strategy, Zelenskyy revealed that an Israeli Patriot air defense system has been operating in Ukraine for the past month, with two more expected to arrive in the fall. Israel’s Defense Ministry declined to comment on the deployment.
As the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant continues to operate on emergency power, the risks of a nuclear incident are mounting, and the world watches anxiously. With diplomatic efforts ongoing but fragile, and military tensions showing no sign of abating, the region remains perched on a knife’s edge—where the next move could have consequences far beyond the battlefield.
