Greenpeace urges IAEA to block Russia's Zaporizhzhia reactor restart as Grossi visits Kyiv

Greenpeace Ukraine has urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prevent Russia from illegally restarting reactors at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the organization said in a Feb. 4 press release.

The appeal comes as IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is visiting Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian officials before heading to Moscow to discuss the situation with Russian authorities.

Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, since March 2022. The power station has been repeatedly disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, increasing the risk of a nuclear disaster.

Greenpeace warned Grossi that Russian officials have recently expressed intentions to restart the reactors to generate electricity for Russia and solidify their control over the plant.

In December 2024, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said restarting the plant’s reactors was the Russian state nuclear company’s “dream.” Sergey Kiriyenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, similarly noted that Moscow intended to restart the reactors “as fast as possible."

Ukraine secures return of 12 children from Russian-occupied territories

Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said the children who returned home include a 16-year-old girl who lost her mother, a 17-year-old boy who had been issued a summons to join the Russian army, and an eight-year-old girl.

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

Greenpeace stressed that there is no legal or safety justification for restarting any reactors at the plant under the current occupation.

“So long as Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains under illegal Russian occupation, there are no conditions that permit the restart of reactors,” said Shaun Burnie, a nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Ukraine.

“If the Russian occupation is not ended, there is the very real prospect of the IAEA secretariat collaborating with Russia’s plans for the restart."

Grossi previously said that a restart is impossible under current wartime conditions but has reportedly discussed with Rosatom the possibility of preparing the plant for future operations when conditions allow.

Russian soldiers face execution threats to retake lost ground near Kupiansk, Ukraine claims

Russian commanders in the Kupiansk sector are ordering their soldiers to retake positions from which they retreated under Ukrainian fire, threatening them with execution if they refuse, Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces claimed on Feb. 4, citing intelligence reports.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy