Ukraine: Power cut at plant risks nuclear 'accident'

Ukraine has said that two power lines connecting its electricity grid to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were cut overnight, putting the plant at risk of an "accident".

"Due to the complete blackout, the nuclear power plant switched to powering its own needs from 20 diesel generators," Ukraine's nuclear energy operator said in a statement.

It said the plant was on "the verge of a nuclear and radiation accident" before off-site power was restored by Kyiv.

• The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was temporarily disconnected from an external power source last night and switched to diesel generators, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported.

"The ZNPP temporarily lost off-site power overnight. Emergency diesel generators provided power needed for safety, before main connection restored. It was eight such power outage during conflict," the agency said on its X (formerly Twitter) page.

The IAEA did not give a reason for the outage.