Russia rejected the US proposal on control over the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant
Russia has refused to give Washington full control over the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant as part of a potential peace settlement in the war against Ukraine. This was reported in the evening by Reuters, citing its own sources.
According to the agency's interlocutors, during the negotiations, the United States offered to take over the management of the plant and distribute the electricity generated between Russia and Ukraine. In response, Moscow insisted that it should control the nuclear power plant, while offering Ukraine cheap electricity. Kyiv considers this approach unacceptable.
As Reuters notes, the issue of control over the Zaporizhzhya NPP, along with Russia's demand to transfer the entire Donbas region to it, remain among the main obstacles to reaching a peace agreement.
At the end of December 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly rejected the idea of joint management of the ZNPP with Russia. He stressed that it was unclear who would restore the plant and at what cost, especially given the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam in the occupied territories by Russian troops.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It consists of six power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW and is located near the city of Enerhodar on the southern shore of the shallow Kakhovka Reservoir. Russian troops occupied the plant in March 2022, after which they transferred it to the management of the state-owned company Rosenergoatom.
Currently, all ZNPP reactors are shut down, but they require constant cooling. Power for safety systems is supplied from the external grid, and in case of its loss, power from diesel generators is used.
