Technical work began on 18 October to restore offsite power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, nearly a month after its complete loss of external electricity supplies sharply raised concerns about the precarious nuclear safety situation at the site, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said.

The IAEA said that following weeks of complex negotiations Russian and Ukraine have both agreed to an IAEA proposal to establish temporary ceasefire zones around two specific locations on opposite sides of the frontline, to enable their respective expert teams to conduct repairs on two power lines that were recently damaged during the military conflict.

On Saturday morning, following de-mining activities, work started to repair two cables of the 330 kilovolt (kV) Ferosplavna-1 line, which was disconnected from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on 7 May.