Blackout at Chornobyl NPP lasts over 3 hours - Zelenskyy

The blackout at the facilities of the former Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred due to a russian strike on one of our power substations in Slavutych, lasted more than three hours. This was reported by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Telegram.

It was reportedly a targeted strike, in which the russians used more than 20 drones - according to preliminary estimates, russian-Iranian Shaheds.

"This is, in particular, a new shelter that protects the environment from the remnants of the fourth power unit of the plant after the 1986 explosion and radioactive debris and dust. It is also a spent nuclear fuel storage facility that stores 80% of all spent fuel accumulated during the plant's operation. These are spent fuel assemblies with a total weight of more than 3,250 tons. The russians could not but know that a strike on the facilities in Slavutych would have such consequences for Chornobyl," the statement said.

The President also noted that at the same time, the blackout at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been going on for eight days, which began due to russian shelling in the area of the plant.

"And the russians are doing absolutely nothing to remedy the situation and allow Ukrainian specialists to restore external power to the plant, which should function continuously under normal conditions. Russia is deliberately creating a threat of radiation incidents, taking advantage, unfortunately, of the weak position of the IAEA and Director Rafael Grossi, as well as the dispersion of global attention," the President said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, meanwhile, russian terrorist forces attacked a substation in the city of Slavutych in the Chernihiv Region with drones. Invincibility points are being deployed in the city due to power outages and water supply by the hour.

On October 1, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine reported that a strike on a power substation in Slavutych resulted in a complete blackout of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

As of the evening, electricity was restored to the Chornobyl NPP.