The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was informed on Monday by Ukrainian authorities that the backup line was “deliberately disconnected to extinguish a fire”. “The line itself is not damaged and will be reconnected once the fire is out,” the IAEA said. Meanwhile, the plant’s only remaining operational reactor would “produce the power the plant needs for its safety and other operations,” the agency said. The incident sparked fears of a possible nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia, which is one of the world’s 10 largest nuclear power plants. Experts say its reactors are designed to protect against natural disasters and incidents such as plane crashes, but leaders around the world have called for it to be spared in combat because of the huge risk of destruction. Plant operator Energoatom said in a statement that Russian forces had continued “intensive shelling” of the area around Zaporizhia in recent days despite warnings. The IAEA, which still has two experts at the plant after a dangerous inspection last week that required six inspectors to travel to the fighting, said last Saturday that the plant had lost its last main line to the grid but was still sending power to the grid via a backup line. The developments in Zaporizhzhia came on the eve of a report to the UN Security Council by IAEA inspectors on what they found during their visit. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations over endangering the plant, which Kremlin forces have held since early March. The factory’s Ukrainian staff continues to operate it. The Russian military had earlier on Monday accused Ukrainian forces of “provocations” at the plant, which is inside an administrative region established by Russia. Russia’s defense ministry claimed that Kiev forces on Sunday targeted the factory grounds with a drone, which it said Russian troops were able to shoot down. The ministry said Ukrainian troops also shelled the neighboring town of Enerhodar twice overnight. Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Facebook on Monday that fighting around the power station has made it impossible to repair damaged power lines, putting the world “once again on the brink of a nuclear disaster.” Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, applauded the IAEA’s decision to leave some experts at the plant. “There are Russian troops now who don’t understand what’s going on, they don’t properly assess the risks,” Podolyak said. “There are a number of our workers there, who need some kind of protection, people from the international community are standing by them and saying (to Russian troops): ‘Don’t touch these people, let them work,’” he added. Meanwhile, a senior Kremlin official blamed Western sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine for cutting off gas supplies from Moscow to Europe. In some of the bluntest comments yet on the standoff between Moscow and Western Europe over energy supplies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said problems pumping natural gas arose “because of sanctions.” “There are no other reasons that would cause problems with pumping,” Peskov claimed. Sanctions against Moscow and Russian companies have created problems with maintaining the equipment, he said, although that claim has been denied by Western governments and engineers. Russian energy company Gazprom said on Friday that the suspension of gas supplies heading west through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will be extended indefinitely because oil leaks in turbines need to be repaired. This move sent European gas prices soaring and sent global stock markets crashing. High energy prices and possible shortages this winter in Western Europe have raised alarm bells among governments, particularly those of the European Union. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a 10% cut in his country’s energy consumption in the coming weeks and months to avoid the risk of cuts and cuts this winter. Peskov laid the blame for the disruption at the door of sanctions, which he claimed prevented the machines from working properly, although experts say that is not true. German officials have rejected these explanations, saying they are just a political power play. Germany’s Siemens Energy, which built turbines used by the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, said the turbine leaks could be fixed while gas continued to flow through the pipeline. Elsewhere, fighting has raged for a seventh month, with Ukraine’s presidential office saying on Monday at least four civilians were killed and seven others wounded by fresh Russian shelling in several parts of Ukraine. In the eastern city of Sloviansk, staff of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society sifted through debris Monday from a second rocket attack on its facility in a week. No one was injured in either attack, said Taras Logginov, head of the agency’s rapid response unit. He blamed Russian forces and accused them of war crimes for the attacks. In a row of apartment buildings across the street, the few residents who haven’t evacuated sawed-off sheets of plywood to board up their broken windows. Henadii Sydorenko sat on the terrace of his apartment building for a break. He said he was unsure whether to stay or leave, torn between his responsibility to look after three apartments whose owners have already been evacuated and growing fear over the now frequent shelling of Sloviansk. “It’s scary,” the 57-year-old said of the bombings. “I’m losing my mind, little by little.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kiev forces had liberated three settlements — two in the south and one in the east, in the Donetsk region. He did not name the settlements in his comments Sunday night. Amid increased Ukrainian incursions into the occupied Kherson region, Russian authorities there said early Monday that for security reasons they had suspended plans for a local referendum on whether the region should officially become part of Russia. But by afternoon, officials changed their minds and said the vote would go ahead as planned, although no date had been set.
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