During the Russian attack on August 26, the power unit was shut down at the South Ukraine NPP

Southern Ukraine nuclear power plant, photo: Depositphotos

During the missile and drone attack on August 26, Russia planned to disrupt the operation of the country's nuclear power plants (NPP).

This is stated in the official note of Ukraine addressed to the IAEA.

In particular, on the morning of the day of the shelling, units No. 1, 3, and 4 of the Rivne NPP were de-energized and disconnected from the network, and the capacity of the South Ukraine NPP was also reduced. In the evening of the same day, due to fluctuations in the power system, unit No. 3 of the South Ukrainian NPP was disconnected.

«The Russian Federation continues to purposefully attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, intending to disrupt the country's nuclear power plants, which provide the majority of Ukraine's electricity. Russian attacks pose a significant risk to the stable operation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine and the safety of millions of people,» the document says.

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We will remind, on August 26, Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 attack unmanned aerial vehicles over Ukraine, of which 102 missiles and 99 UAVs were shot down.

The accident at the South Ukrainian NPP in July

On the night of July 16, an equipment failure occurred at one of the energy facilities, as a result of which the energy deficit in the system increased, as reported by Ukrenergo.

After that, social networks began to spread information that one of the power units was disconnected after the accident at the South Ukraine NPP.

In response to the question of whether there was a breakdown of an energy facility at the station, the South Ukraine NPP commented in a comment to NikVesti that according to the laws of Ukraine «On the legal regime of martial law» they cannot provide an official comment on this situation. However, nuclear scientists assured that the power complex is working normally.

At the same time, Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, said that three current transformers burned down at the South Ukraine NPP in three days.

However, during the meeting of the Council on July 19, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko called the information about burnt transformers untrue and a Russian narrative.

On July 25, in response to an information request, NEC Ukrenergo officially confirmed that on July 15, current transformers burned down at the South Ukraine nuclear power plant.

Later, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed the failure of equipment at the South Ukraine NPP.

During his visit to Mykolaiv, Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko denied the accident at the South Ukraine NPP, calling it a lie and manipulation. He stated that there was an exclusively operational event at the station that did not pose a threat.

In addition, sources in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine confirmed to NV that on the night of July 16, the reactors of the PANP did not work for almost half a day due to the breakdown of two high-voltage transformers.

It will be recalled that before the start of the full-scale invasion, 15 nuclear power units were operating in Ukraine, of which 9 units are currently in the controlled territory at the South Ukraine (three units), Khmelnytskyi (two units), and Rivne (four units) NPPs. Another six units are located at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which is occupied by the Russian army.