Work has begun to repair the damaged power supply to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday. The repairs are hoped to end a precarious four-week outage that saw it dependent on backup generators.
Russian and Ukrainian forces established special ceasefire zones for repairs to be safely carried out, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a social media statement attributed to head Rafael Grossi. The agency hailed the restoration of off-site power as “crucial for nuclear safety and security.”
“Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” the statement said.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk confirmed that Ukrainian specialists were involved in restoring power lines to the plant and said that its stable operation and connection with the Ukrainian power grid were essential to prevent a nuclear incident. She also said that it was the 42nd time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 that power lines to the plant had to be
restored. Ukraine has previously accused Russia of targeting the nation’s power grid.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, has been operating on diesel back-up generators since Sept. 23, when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that Russia and Ukraine each blamed on the other, officials said.
Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Adm./Anadolu via Getty Images
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.
Elsewhere, Russia continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, launching three missiles and 164 drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said Saturday. It said that Ukrainian forces shot down 136 of the drones.
Two people were injured after Russian drones targeted a gas station in the Zarichny district of Sumy in northeast Ukraine, local officials said Saturday. They were two women, ages 51 and 53, according to regional Gov. Oleh Hryhorov.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that its air defenses had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The work began one day after President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House and two days after he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone. Mr. Trump called the meeting with Zelenskyy “very interesting, and cordial” in a post on Truth Social and urged the two leaders to end the war.
Aaron Schwartz / Sipa / Bloomberg via Getty Images / Sipa USA 
Their discussions concerned the U.S. giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles, possibly in exchange for Ukrainian drones, CBS News previously reported. Details of the discussions were not shared, though Mr. Trump indicated that he believed sending the missiles could escalate the war.
Mr. Trump announced earlier this week that he would meet with Putin in Budapest soon. As Zelenskyy arrived at the White House on Friday, Mr. Trump told a reporter that he believed he could persuade Putin to end the war. Mr. Trump later said in the Oval Office that he believes he and Zelenskyy are making “great progress” in ending the war.
Russia has not indicated that it wants to end the war, and Mr. Trump has expressed frustration with Putin in recent months. First Lady Melania Trump said last week she had worked with the Russian leader to return Ukrainian children to their families, an initiative that Mr. Trump said she took on on her own.