KYIV — The Kremlin is not planning to hand over control of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe to Ukraine or any other nation.
“The station’s return to the Russian nuclear industry is a long-overdue fact that the international community can only recognize. The transfer of ZNPP itself or control over it to Ukraine or any other country is impossible,” the Russian foreign ministry wrote Tuesday night, referring to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, also ruling out any joint operation of the station.
The ZNPP, located in Enerhodar — a city in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region — was a crucial cog in Ukraine’s energy system, producing six gigawatts of power and covering 20 percent of the country’s electricity needs. However, the plant has not been operational since the Russian army occupied it from March 2022, violently dispersing local resistance.
Last week, POLITICO reported that United States President Donald Trump sees control of the ZNPP as a crucial energy source for the proposed minerals mining deal with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the ZNPP is Ukraine’s state property. Still, he was open to cooperation with the American side on its restoration if Ukraine takes back control over the plant and the city of Enerhodar. The White House said the U.S. is discussing ZNPP control with Russia.
But the Kremlin claims the plant is now Russian after sham referendums it conducted illegally and at gunpoint in four Ukrainian regions in 2022. Putin made the ZNPP Russian property by special order and now considers the station Russian “under international law.”
“An important aspect is that close cooperation on impressive sabotage potential of NATO countries with Ukraine makes impossible even temporary admission of representatives of these states to ZNPP,” the Russian foreign ministry said, hinting at its demand to strip Ukraine of Western intelligence aid in any peace negotiations.
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