Fire damage to overhead power lines caused the remaining two operating reactors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine to be disconnected from the Ukrainian grid, Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said on Thursday (25 August).

The company said on its Telegram social media account that the actions of Russian forces “caused a complete disconnection” of the station, the largest in Europe, from the power grid for the first time in its history.

Energoatom said the station’s security systems were working normally and work was under way to reconnect one of the reactor blocks to the grid.

The decision to disconnect the reactors came after fires broke out in the ash pits of a coal plant near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station and damaged the power lines connecting the nuclear plant to Ukraine’s grid, the company said.