The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost the 330-kV Ferosplavna-1 line—which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called the plant's only remaining off-site power line—on 20 August and has since run on emergency diesel generators, Ukraine's state nuclear operator Energoatom said on 6 September. A day earlier, the IAEA said the plant's diesel reserves were under increasing strain and warned it could lose all power within days unless external power was restored or fuel deliveries continued.

The Zaporizhzhia plant has been under Russian control since March 2022, when Russian forces seized the facility during the invasion. The plant stopped generating electricity in September 2022, and all six reactors have been in cold shutdown since April 2024, leaving the plant dependent on external or backup power for cooling and other essential safety systems. Repeated damage to the plant's external power connections has forced it onto emergency diesel generators multiple times, including during a month-long loss of off-site power in 2025.

How much diesel the Zaporizhzhia plant has left

The plant's most recent delivery to its off-site fuel farm took place in March, and the next one, set for May, is still held up by military activity, the IAEA reported on 20 August. At that point, the plant reported having more than 10 days of diesel available for its emergency generators.

By 29 August, the plant was down to about 10 days of diesel—its minimum regulatory reserve—and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that was roughly how long it had left without restored power or more deliveries. Several dozen tons reached the plant on 27 and 28 August, but a week later the agency shortened the warning to within days, with the plant down to two generators and running its cooling pumps on and off to save fuel. No nuclear plant should have to throttle its essential cooling systems to conserve diesel, Grossi said.

How the plant lost its last external power line

Ferosplavna-1 is a backup line from the thermal plant next door, one of 10 the IAEA counted before the war. The main 750-kV Dniprovska line failed on 24 March. Technicians repaired it under a June ceasefire, but it has never been switched back on, because a substation more than 100 kilometers away was badly damaged. Ferosplavna-1 has carried the plant alone since. It went down on 26 April for the 15th time since 2022, by both counts, and cut out repeatedly around a June attack on the thermal plant. It went dead on 20 August—the 27th loss by Energoatom's count, the 26th by the IAEA's.

Ukrainian technicians began repairs on 5 September under a local ceasefire the IAEA brokered, with a few days' work expected. The line was still dead on 7 September, its 19th day without off-site power, the plant's Russian-installed management claimed to Russian media. Fixing it may not bring the power back anyway, Rosatom chief Aleksei Likhachev claimed the same day, blaming Ukrainian inaction for the other line still sitting repaired and unconnected—which the IAEA puts down to the wrecked substation.

Energoatom's assessment of the generator risk and Russian claims

Russian forces run the plant's emergency generators as everyday power, outside the conditions they were built for, Energoatom said on 6 September. Weeks of continuous running raise the risk of several backups failing together, and constant starts under load make the systems that start them likelier to fail. Even in cold shutdown, a blackout would threaten control of the safety systems and the spent fuel pools, and the plant is already in gross violation of its safe-operation limits, it said. Only a Russian pullout, military and civilian, and a handover back to Energoatom would guarantee safe operation, the company said, which also wants both grid lines back.

The plant has enough fuel for its generators but cannot restock while the access roads are shelled, the plant's Russian-installed management claimed to Russia's state news agency TASS on 31 August. TASS blamed Ukrainian forces for the shelling, though the quoted remarks named no one.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a decision to introduce two levels of air alerts, with yellow for drone attacks and red for a heightened threat of missile or combined strikes, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on 3 September. Under the yellow level, designated businesses can operate if they meet safety requirements, while a red alert will require work to stop and people to move to shelters.

Russia continues to attack Ukrainian cities with drones and other long-range weapons, repeatedly disrupting civilian and economic activity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using mass drone attacks to wear down civilian life and economic activity, while the existing system of signaling all aerial threats in the same way no longer fits Russia's tactics.

How it will work

Businesses cleared to operate under a yellow alert must ensure staff and visitors can reach shelters. Where that access is missing, the Cabinet is giving businesses three months to provide it.

The General Staff, the Air Force, the government, the Defense Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the State Emergency Service will set the specific indicators for declaring each level weekly, Zelenskyy said.

What still has to be worked out

Zelenskyy also directed officials to develop geographic targeting for alerts, so warnings can be limited to areas facing an actual threat. The measure is still being worked out and is not yet part of the new system.

The new approach is intended to allow economic activity to continue during drone threats while preserving stricter measures for more serious attacks. The government has not yet finalized which businesses will qualify to remain open under a yellow alert or all of the criteria for applying the two levels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Armenia's 2025 law launching the EU accession process "amounts to a declaration of withdrawal" from the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan replied that Armenia had filed no notice to leave and had violated none of the bloc's rules. The leaders met on 1 September in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

The exchange turns Armenia's westward shift into an open dispute over how far it has already moved from Moscow. Yerevan is preparing an EU application and has frozen participation in Russia's military alliance, but it still belongs to the trade bloc. Russia remains Armenia's largest trade partner, accounting for about 35% of its foreign trade.

The disagreement

In the opening minutes, Putin acknowledged that Armenia's aspiration to join the EU was the country's "legitimate right," but said it "creates difficulties" given Armenia's membership in the bloc that links Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. He told Pashinyan that adopting a law launching the process of joining another organization "amounts to a declaration of withdrawal from ours."

Putin urged Armenia to decide quickly and repeated his call for a referendum on whether Armenia should remain in the trade bloc or pursue EU membership, telling Pashinyan to give the people a choice so the matter could be closed.

Pashinyan pushed back. He noted that the bloc's rules have no mechanism to expel a member state—only a voluntary withdrawal process requiring six months' notice—and that Armenia has filed no such notice. He told Putin the issue had not matured enough for a referendum, arguing that Armenia first needs to submit a formal EU application, receive a response, and agree on an accession roadmap.

How far Armenia has moved

Armenia's parliament passed a law launching the EU accession process in March 2025, though the government has said the law does not amount to a formal membership bid. On 24 August, Pashinyan told lawmakers that the government would begin preparing a formal application "in the near future." Armenia has also dropped the "strategic partner" label for Russia from its new government program and effectively frozen its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization since early 2024.

Russia's response

Since May 2026, Moscow has imposed a series of bans on Armenian agricultural imports—including fruit, vegetables, and mineral water—citing phytosanitary concerns. The EU called the measures "economic coercion" and announced a support package of more than €50 million for Armenia in June.

Pashinyan says dialogue will continue

After the meeting, Pashinyan posted a video describing the talks as "very good" and saying the two leaders had agreed to continue a "sincere and constructive dialogue" during a future visit to Moscow. He said bilateral relations needed to be "rethought" under new circumstances.