Trump suggests Ukraine's largest nuclear plant is on the line in talks with Putin. What's next for Zaporizhzhia?
The UN's nuclear watchdog has repeatedly warned about the security dangers facing the plant – the largest nuclear power station in Europe – which sits on the front line of Russia's invasion.
Now, the Zaporizhzhia plant is expected to be part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Trump administration officials said this week.
The White House press secretary on Monday falsely asserted that the occupied nuclear power plant is 'on the border,' given that its location in the city of Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia, is almost 200 miles from Ukraine's internationally recognized border. Its position on the Dnipro River is, however, right on the front line on the Russian-controlled side of Zaporizhzhia.
Before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant supplied roughly 20% of Ukraine's energy, with six reactors.
But the plant is now disconnected from the grid and has suffered some damage amid drone strikes and constant shelling. All six reactors are now in shutdown and there are concerns over the plant's ongoing maintenance, as explosions continue to hit nearby, according to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team on the ground.
Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russia of endangering the nuclear facility and surrounding population, while Moscow has accused Ukraine of instigating attacks on the plant. Ukraine has also previously raised concerns that Russia could try to connect the plant to its own power grid.
Speaking to journalists in Kyiv last Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the plant 'is a problem for the Russians.'
'Its existence is impossible without Ukraine. We need money and specialists to restore it. And time too, it will take several years,' Zelensky said. 'This is also a problem for us because it is our plant. Lost money, lost opportunities.'
'I am sure that they (Russia) will make political, public statements that the station will soon be operational and will supply electricity to the territories controlled by the Russians. It will not happen quickly,' Zelensky added. 'And the (UN nuclear watchdog) IAEA will be under constant political pressure because the IAEA cannot allow them to do this.'
Trump said on Sunday that negotiators had already pinpointed certain topics up for discussion in his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including 'dividing up certain assets' and saying: 'We will be talking about land, we'll be talking about power plants.'
Asked about Trump's comment on power plants, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday: 'There's a power plant that is on the border of Russia and Ukraine that was up for discussion with the Ukrainians, and he will address it in his call with Putin,' specifying that she was talking about the nuclear plant.
'I won't get ahead of those negotiations, but I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace, and we've never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment, and the president, as you know, is determined to get one done,' Leavitt also said.
Zaporizhzhia is one of the four regions illegally annexed by Russia in 2022. The Kremlin annexed the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia following so-called referendums in the regions that were dismissed as 'shams' by Ukraine and Western nations. Russia had previously annexed Crimea in 2014.
Putin has continued to make maximalist demands to control all of those regions, even though Ukraine still holds significant amounts of territory in Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The Kremlin said last month that the four occupied and annexed regions are 'an integral part of Russia' and 'non-negotiable.'
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