On August 22, Russian shelling caused damage to the external overhead line VL-330kV Zaporizhia TPP-Ferosplavna through which the temporarily occupied Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) received power from the Ukrainian energy system to meet its own needs, Energoatom has said on Friday.

"Currently, the ZNPP is connected to the Ukrainian energy system with only one power line VL-750kV Dniprovska. In case of its damage, an emergency situation will arise due to the loss of external power supply to the pumps cooling the reactor cores and fuel conditioning pools of the ZNPP," it said on the Telegram channel.

The company recalled that, since the beginning of the Russian occupation on March 4, 2022, the ZNPP has already experienced eight full blackouts and a partial one with the start of emergency diesel generators and safety systems. Their failure may entail an emergency situation.

"Under the 'management' of the Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied ZNPP, degradation is steadily deepening in all areas of operation. To the recent fire, when due to negligence or deliberate arson one of the two existing cooling towers of the NPP completely burned out, now an event with the threat of loss of external power supply to the plant has been added," Energoatom said.