Zelenskyy on Zaporizhzhia NPP: Unaware of Trump-Putin talks, but plant cannot be Russian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is unaware of what exactly the United States and Russia are discussing regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). However, Ukraine will not allow its energy facility to operate for Russian occupiers, he stated at a press conference, responding to a question from LIGA.net.
"I don't know anything about this, except that the issue was briefly raised during our teams' meeting in Jeddah. All aspects were discussed there—I spoke about them, and we consulted with our team on critical infrastructure energy facilities in our country even before the meeting in Saudi Arabia," Zelenskyy said.
When asked about Ukraine's stance on the reported discussions and potential "bargaining" between the US and Russia, the president said that ZNPP is a Ukrainian energy facility.
"It won't operate without us. But according to our intelligence, the Russians really want it to function without us. They are trying to involve the IAEA in this, but the IAEA is a serious international institution. So far, they have not let us down, and I hope this remains the case in the future," Zelenskyy noted.
The president added that Ukraine will not allow its plant, located in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, to serve the occupiers.
- On March 4, 2022, Russian forces seized the city of Enerhodar and the ZNPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and the third largest in the world.
- On February 12, 2025, reports indicated that Russia had disrupted the planned rotation of IAEA experts at the plant for the second time in a row, once again blaming Ukraine.
- On March 13, US President Trump stated that Washington had discussed territorial issues, ZNPP, and NATO membership with Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy also confirmed that the issue of territories, including control over ZNPP, was raised during talks between Ukrainian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia.
