KYIV: The last working reactor at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been disconnected from the electricity grid due to Russian shelling, according to Ukraine’s state-run nuclear company.

“Today, as a result of a fire caused by shelling, the [last working] transmission line was disconnected,” Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook that Energoatom would seek to repair the line but was not able to do so while fighting raged around the facility.

The embattled nuclear plant has been controlled by Russia since the earliest days of its invasion but operated by Ukrainian engineers.

Both Russia and Ukraine accuse the other of shelling near the facility. Kyiv also accuses Moscow of storing ammunition around the plant and using the facility as a shield for carrying out attacks, charges Russia denies.

The International Atomic Energy Agency sent inspectors to the plant last week and two experts remain at the facility. The U.N. agency is expected to issue a report on its findings this week.

(VOA)