“Each Day of Delay Is a Global Threat”: Why ‘Rosatom’ Sanctions and Stronger Action Cannot Wait

Each Day of Delay Is a Global Threat: Why ‘Rosatom’ Sanctions and Stronger Action Cannot Wait

Оlha Konsevych

Ukraine has warned that Russia is deliberately creating risks of nuclear incidents at its occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), as the facility entered its ninth day without external power supply. The blackout began on September 23 after shelling in the area cut the last transmission line connecting the plant to Ukraine’s grid. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “deliberately creating a risk of radiological incidents” while doing nothing to restore power or allow Ukrainian engineers to repair the damage.

Each Day of Delay Is a Global Threat: Why ‘Rosatom’ Sanctions and Stronger Action Cannot Wait

“Russia is deliberately creating a risk of radiological incidents, taking advantage of the weak position of the IAEA and the dispersal of global attention,” Zelensky officially stated. He urged the United States, Europe, the G7 and the G20 to “act fully, with strong pressure on Russia to protect lives.”

Tenth blackout since 2022

The latest outage marks the tenth full blackout at ZNPP since Russian forces occupied the facility in March 2022. Since then, the plant has relied on diesel generators to maintain cooling and critical safety systems — a precarious arrangement that Ukrainian officials say could trigger a nuclear disaster on a European scale if fuel supplies are interrupted.

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Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy has appealed to the international community to intensify pressure on Moscow, emphasizing that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has already recognized the emergency situation. On September 15, 62 states supported an IAEA resolution calling for the plant’s immediate return to Ukrainian control.

Satellite analysis by McKenzie Intelligence Services challenges Russia’s claim that the power outage was caused by Ukrainian shelling. Analysts found no evidence of strikes or craters along the damaged power line, suggesting the disruption may have been deliberate sabotage aimed at detaching the plant from Ukraine’s energy system. Greenpeace nuclear experts Shaun Burnie and Jan Vande Putte argued that Moscow intentionally sabotaged the line in order to prepare for a forced reconnection to Russian-controlled networks, warning: “The current loss of power supply at ZNPP is a deliberate act by Russia.”

IAEA: risks contained but unsustainable

The IAEA, however, has sought to reassure. Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed that eight emergency diesel generators are currently powering the plant, with nine more on standby and three under maintenance. Fuel reserves are estimated to last more than ten days, with regular deliveries continuing.

Grossi stressed that while there is “no immediate danger” as long as the generators function, “the situation is clearly not sustainable.” He added: “It is of paramount importance to restore external power supply. No side has anything to gain from a nuclear accident.”

Ukrainian energy expert Victoria Voytsitska also urged against panic. “The risks at Zaporizhzhia are not comparable to Fukushima,” she said. The expert from the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory explains that although the statement mentions the availability of diesel fuel, deliveries were ensured in previous instances when the plant had to operate on generators. This issue can certainly be resolved, including with the mediation of the IAEA.

“Since the Zaporizhzhia reactors have not been operating for more than three years — which has led to the cooling of the nuclear fuel and a reduction in the amount of radioactive material it contains — the nuclear safety situation is not as dangerous as it would be if the plant were generating electricity,” she stated.

The environmental think tank Bellona offered a different perspective, dismissing Russian rhetoric about restarting ZNPP reactors as “essentially for show.” Alexander Nikitin, Bellona’s senior nuclear advisor, wrote that Rosatom lacks both the technical and political capacity to restart the plant. Every day of downtime erodes the functionality of its equipment, much of which was modified by Ukraine’s Energoatom to European standards, posing an additional barrier.

Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant also hit

The risks extend beyond Zaporizhzhia. On October 1, a Russian drone strike on a power substation in Slavutych caused a three-hour blackout at facilities linked to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The outage briefly affected the New Safe Confinement arch covering the remains of the exploded fourth reactor, as well as a storage facility containing over 3,250 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel — around 80% of all the assemblies generated during Chornobyl’s operation.

Ukraine said the attack involved more than 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones, launched in waves to overwhelm air defenses. “Russia could not have been unaware of the consequences for Chornobyl,” Ukrainian officials said, calling the strike a deliberate escalation of nuclear risk.

Sanctions gap: Rosatom still largely untouched

One of the weakest points in the international response concerns sanctions against Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation directly embedded in the occupation of Zaporizhzhia. To date, only the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada have imposed sanctions targeting Rosatom’s structures and senior managers, beginning in 2023.

Within the European Union, however, no such restrictions exist. Proposals to sanction Rosatom have repeatedly been blocked by Hungary and Slovakia, leaving Moscow’s nuclear giant largely insulated from the kind of economic pressure faced by Russia’s energy or financial sectors.

A recent investigation by the watchdog Truth Hounds, Seizing Power: Rosatom’s Role in Russia’s War Against Ukraine, provides detailed evidence of how Rosatom has been instrumentalized as part of the occupation regime at Enerhodar. According to the report, Rosatom officials have not only integrated themselves into the management of the captured plant but have also been complicit in coercing Ukrainian staff, facilitating the plant’s disconnection from Ukraine’s grid, and normalizing Russia’s de facto nuclear blackmail .

The authors argue that without targeted sanctions on Rosatom and its subsidiaries, international efforts to constrain Russia’s nuclear brinkmanship will remain incomplete. They stress that the corporation’s dual role as both a civil nuclear operator and a geopolitical instrument makes it uniquely dangerous in wartime. As the report concludes, sanctioning Rosatom is not only about economic measures but also about establishing accountability for corporate complicity in war crimes and nuclear safety violations.

The prolonged blackout at Europe’s largest nuclear plant and a direct attack on the infrastructure safeguarding Chornobyl highlight how the war has expanded into a contest over nuclear safety itself. While the IAEA insists that current risks are contained, Ukraine warns that Russia is deliberately weaponizing nuclear infrastructure. As Zelensky warned, “Half-measures will not fix this. Each day of delay is a global threat.”

Olha Konsevych: Journalist, researcher | Vital Voices | GMF | WZB Berlin | Max Planck Society alumna || Mahabahu Correspondent

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