Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky has said. It was only due to back-up electricity kicking in that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was able to operate safely, Volodomyr Zelensky went on to say.

Russia should agree to a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency visit as soon as possible to check on the safety and security of the system, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing. The Presidents of the United States and Ukraine discussed, in a phone call, the situation in the area of Zaporizhzhia NPP.

Meanwhile, one of the two nuclear reactor units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which were disconnected from the power grid, has been reconnected, the head of the pro-Russian administration in Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky said, quoted by TASS. 

For its part, Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said fires in the ash pits of a coal power station near the Zaporizhzhia reactor complex interfered with the power supply to the station’s two last working reactors, disconnecting them from the network, Reuters reports. “The actions of the invaders caused a complete disconnection of the nuclear power plant from the power grid”, Energoatom said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month, Reuters reports. The order, which will come into effect on January 1, 2023, includes a 137,000 rise in the number of combat personnel to 1.15 million.