Ukraine War: Russian forces seized the defunct Chernobyl plant in the first days of their invasion.
A high-voltage power line to Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant was damaged by Russian forces not long after electricity supplies were restored to the facility, grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on Monday.
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"The line that supplies the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the town of Slavutych was damaged by the occupying forces," Ukrenergo said on its Facebook page.
The grid operator said the line was damaged again "before the power supply was fully restored" and that one of its repair crews will be going into "occupied territory" again for more repairs.
The operator added that Chernobyl "cannot be left without a reliable energy supply" and the residents of the nearby town of Slavutych "depend" on it for electricity.
Power had previously been cut to the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, on March 9, but the UN's atomic watchdog said there was "no critical impact on safety".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had, at the time, called for Russia to urgently observe a temporary ceasefire in order to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, saying radiation could be leaked if an electricity outage continues.
Power was restored to the nuclear plant yesterday, as Ukraine's Energy Minister commented that their energy engineers, "by risking their own health and lives, were able to avert the risk of a possible nuclear catastrophe that threatened the whole of Europe."
Russian forces seized the defunct plant, the site of a 1986 disaster that killed hundreds and spread radioactive contamination west across Europe, soon after they invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Russian troops also shelled and captured the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's biggest atomic power plant, on March 4, causing a fire that raised alarm in Europe over a possible nuclear disaster.
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