Russian occupiers have again mined Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said in a statement.

"Mines along the perimeter of the ZNPP, in a buffer zone between the facility's internal and external fences, which were previously identified by the IAEA team and were removed in November 2023, are now back in place. This is a restricted area inaccessible to operational plant personnel. Director General Grossi reiterated that the presence of mines is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards," he said a statement published on the IAEA website on Saturday.

In addition, Grossi said this week Zaporizhia NPP lost backup power to its reactor units for several hours, which indicates ongoing nuclear safety risks at the facility.

"Thursday's failure of two of the ZNPP's back-up power electrical transformers showed the continuing vulnerability in the availability of external power, which the plant needs to cool its six reactors and for other essential nuclear safety and security functions," according to the statement.

Specialists restored the back-up power supply eight hours later when two other back-up power electrical transformers were put into operation. The ZNPP is investigating the cause of the failure, informing the IAEA experts at the site that there was no sign of external transformer damage.