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Shelling has destroyed the power infrastructure at the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar where staff operating the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant live, posing a growing threat to the plant, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Friday.
The plant's off-site power supplies, vital lines of defense against a potential nuclear meltdown, have already been cut. And the shelling at Enerhodar has caused a lasting blackout there.
That has prompted Ukraine to say it may have to shut down the last operating reactor supplying power to Zaporizhzhia, including the cooling systems for the plant's nuclear fuel.
Zaporizhzhia's operator is not confident that off-site power can be restored and that is prompting it to consider shutting down the last operating reactor, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
"The entire power plant would then be fully reliant on emergency diesel generators for ensuring vital nuclear safety and security functions. And as a consequence, the operator would not be able to re-start the reactors unless off-site power was reliably reestablished," he added.
"This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious. Enerhodar has gone dark. The power plant has no off-site power. And we have seen that once infrastructure is repaired, it is damaged once again," Grossi said.
Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for shelling near Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine and within the perimeter of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which has six reactors.
"This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand," Grossi said.
"I therefore urgently call for the immediate cessation of all shelling in the entire area. Only this will ensure the safety and security of operating staff and allow the durable restoration of power to Enerhodar and to the power plant."
Grossi this week called for the creation of a "nuclear safety and security protection zone" around Zaporizhzhia, repeating his call Friday.
Ukrainian gains
Meanwhile, Russian state television broadcast an interview Friday acknowledging that Kyiv had achieved a "substantial victory," after Ukrainian forces burst through the front line in a lightning advance in the eastern region.
The Russian-appointed administrator for Kharkiv, Vitaliy Hanchev, also said, "The situation is rather serious now. The very fact there was a breach of our defenses is already a substantial victory for the Ukrainian armed forces."
The Ukrainian breakthrough near Kharkiv was the fastest advance reported by either side for months, and it is one of the biggest shifts in the war's momentum since Russian forces abandoned a disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said troops had "liberated dozens of settlements" and reclaimed more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory in the Kharkiv region in the east, as well as Kherson in the south in the past week.
Western military analysts say the advance puts the Ukrainians within striking distance of the main railway Moscow has relied on to sustain its force in eastern Ukraine and could leave thousands of Russian troops at risk of being cut off.
Zelenskyy posted a video of Ukrainian soldiers announcing they had captured the eastern town of Balakliya, along a stretch of front south of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. The Ukrainian military said it had advanced nearly 50 kilometers through that front after an assault that appeared to take the Russians by surprise.
In Prague, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference with his Czech counterpart, "We see success in Kherson now, we see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very, very encouraging."
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said Ukrainian forces were within just 15 kilometers of Kupiansk, a junction for the main railway lines that Moscow has relied upon to supply its forces across battlefields in the east.
Military aid
The United States said Thursday it plans to send $2.2 billion in long-term military aid to Ukraine and 18 other European countries threatened by Russian aggression, and another $675 million directly to the Kyiv government in a new munitions package to fight Moscow's invasion.
U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who met with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv Thursday, said the $2.2 billion would "bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors, including many of our NATO allies, as well as other regional security partners potentially at risk of future Russian aggression."
European Union finance ministers Friday backed a $5 billion loan for Ukraine to help it keep schools, hospitals and other state operations running as it fights against Russia's invasion, the Czech finance ministry said.
The loan, to be backed by guarantees of EU member states, is part of an overall $9 billion package announced in May. The first $1 billion was sent in early August.
Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura, who was hosting EU finance ministers Friday in Prague, said in a statement that upcoming meetings would decide how the remaining $3 billion in the package could be split into loans or grants.
Some information in this report was provided by Reuters and The Associated Press.