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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Dan Sabbagh and Artem Mazhulin

Ukrainian attack spoiled planned Zaporizhzhia birthday gift for Putin

A Russian service member at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
A Russian service member at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in 2023. Russia captured the plant in March 2022. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

​An attempt by Russia to connect the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to ​the Russian grid in time for Vladimir Putin’s birthday earlier this month was foiled by Ukrainian forces operating behind enemy lines.

The six-reactor plant was instead reconnected by Russian engineers to external electrical power from Ukraine​ on Thursday morning, ending a month-long emergency ​during which the site had to rely on diesel generators to power cooling systems.

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