The U.N. nuclear watchdog is pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to local ceasefires so that external power can be restored to Ukraine’s huge nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, two diplomats familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.
The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.
It has been operating on diesel generators since Sept. 23 when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that each side blamed on the other. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, Europe's biggest.
