Zelensky: Russia plans ‘decisive energy blow to all Europeans’ Russia has delayed the reopening of the pipeline, a blow to Europe The IAEA says the line at the Zaporizhzhia plant but is running in reserve
KYIV, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Europeans to expect a tough winter as Russia’s offensive in his country leads to cuts in oil and gas exports from Moscow. Zelensky spoke on Saturday night after Moscow shut down a key pipeline supplying Russian gas to the continent. “Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow to all Europeans this winter,” he said in his daily video address. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Moscow cited Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine and technical issues for the energy outages. European countries that have backed the Kiev government with diplomatic and military support have accused Russia of rigging energy supplies. Some analysts say shortages and rising living costs as winter approaches risk eroding Western support for Kyiv as governments try to deal with disgruntled populations. Last week Moscow said it would keep the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main natural gas route to Germany, closed and G7 countries announced a planned price cap on Russian oil exports. The Kremlin said it would stop selling oil to any countries that implemented the cap. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that his government was planning to completely cut off natural gas deliveries in December, but promised that his country would make it through the winter. “Russia is no longer a reliable energy partner,” Solz told a news conference in Berlin.
POWER LINE DOWN IN ZAPORISZIA
The Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine has again lost external power under Russian occupation, UN inspectors said on Saturday. The last remaining main external power line was cut, although a backup line continued to supply electricity to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement. read more Only one of its six reactors remained operational, he said. The factory was seized by Russian troops shortly after President Vladimir Putin sent his army over the border on February 24 and has become the focus of the conflict. Each side has accused the other of shelling the region, which has sparked fears that a nuclear holocaust could ensue. A Zaporizhia administration official based in Russia said the situation around the plant had been calm so far on Sunday. Speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda radio, official Vladimir Rogov said there were no bombings or incursions. Russia has twice accused Ukraine of trying to seize the plant in the past two days. Ukraine said Russia had itself attacked the region. IAEA experts are expected to continue working at the plant until at least Monday, according to Rogoff. An IAEA mission toured the plant, which is still operated by Ukrainian personnel, last week and some experts remained there pending the release of an IAEA report. read more The plant said in a statement on Saturday that the fifth reactor was disabled “as a result of continuous shelling by Russian occupation forces” and that there was “insufficient capacity from the last reserve line to operate two reactors”. Zelensky blamed Russian bombing for the outage on August 25, the first Zaporizhzhia was cut off from the national grid, which narrowly avoided a radioactive leak. This shutdown caused power outages across Ukraine. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of stockpiling heavy weapons at the site to deter Ukraine from firing on it. Russia, which denies having such weapons there, has resisted international calls to relocate troops and demilitarize the region. On other battlefronts, Ukrainian Telegram channels reported explosions on the Antonivsky Bridge near the southern city of Kherson, which is occupied by Russian forces. The bridge has been badly damaged by Ukrainian missiles in recent weeks, but Russian troops have been scrambling to repair it or create a water crossing or barges to keep supplies to Russian units on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive last week targeting the south, particularly the Kherson region, which the Russians captured early in the conflict. (This story corrects employee’s name in paragraph 15) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv. Additional reporting by Michael Shields, Ron Popeski and Reuters. Written by Simon Cameron-Moore and Angus MacSwan. Edited by William Mallard and Philippa Fletcher Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
