Olha Nikitchenko

Tonight, for the 16th time this year alone, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has lost all external power. Once again, nuclear safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP depends on emergency diesel generators, with fuel reserves sufficient for only around two weeks of limited operation. The sheer recklessness of this situation is staggering. The same country that illegally occupies the plant continues to devastate Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, putting European nuclear safety at serious risk. Russia has no right to hold an entire continent hostage to the consequences of its occupation. Moscow has turned nuclear safety into another instrument of blackmail, demonstrating a cynical disregard for the risks its actions pose. The Kremlin cannot pretend that the consequences of its actions will somehow remain confined to Ukraine. We appreciate the continued efforts of @iaeaorg Director General @rafaelmgrossi and his team to safeguard nuclear safety at the plant. Russia has been and remains the only source of safety risks and power supply problems. This is the Kremlin’s cynicism at its most dangerous: creating nuclear risks while obstructing efforts to address them. The international response must finally match the scale of the danger. Sanctions against Rosatom are long overdue. A corporation directly involved in the illegal occupation of a nuclear power plant cannot continue enjoying business as usual internationally. Europe’s nuclear safety cannot remain at the mercy of the country that deliberately put it at risk. The only sustainable solution is the return of the Zaporizhzhia NPP to its rightful owner and operator, Ukraine.

Russia has committed another horrific act of terror against Ukrainian civilians. A Russian drone struck a railway platform in Dnipro as passengers were waiting to board a train, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14 more people. That same morning, Russian forces also struck a passenger bus in Zaporizhzhia, injuring at least one person; the centre of Chernihiv, killing two 15-year-old girls and injuring 23 others; and a residential apartment building in Kremenchuk, killing at least three people and injuring 19, including five children. These were deliberate attacks on civilians. Putin’s Russia continues to murder Ukrainians in broad daylight, with utter contempt for human life and international law. This is Putin’s real response to every sign of Western weakness and every misguided decision to ease sanctions, delist oligarchs, or grant exemptions. Such missteps must stop. There should be no illusions about the nature of this terror. Every such attack demands a response that weakens Russia’s ability to wage war: more air defense for Ukraine, greater pressure on Moscow, and decisive measures to disrupt Russia’s production of drones and missiles.

Russia struck a park near a cafe in the Kharkiv region with an attack drone, killing at least six people, including a girl barely over a year old and an 11-year-old child, and injuring 15 others, among them seven children. Families who had come to spend time together became the targets of another Russian brutal attack. The deliberate use of attack drones against places where civilians gather exposes the nature of Russia’s warfare and the threat it poses far beyond Ukraine. The same technologies, components and networks that enable these attacks are part of a Russian military system that continues to adapt, expand production and exploit gaps in international restrictions. Allowing those supply chains to function means allowing Moscow to prepare its next strikes and kill civilians. We urge our partners to intensify efforts to identify and disrupt the networks supplying Russia’s drone industry, tighten sanctions, enforce export controls against circumvention, and pursue accountability for those responsible for attacks on civilians. At the same time, Ukraine needs faster deliveries of interceptors to prevent further tragedies. The most effective response to this atrocity is to make the next Russian drone harder to build, harder to launch, and easier for Ukraine to destroy.

Russia has attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure 76 times since President Trump’s announcement of an energy ceasefire. Its message could hardly be clearer — Moscow has not abided by any obligations. In just one week, Russia launched almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles against Ukraine. While international efforts to end the war continue, Moscow is deliberately targeting our energy system and leaving tens of thousands of families without electricity. Russia wants sanctions relief without changing its behaviour, continued revenues without accountability, and imitation of diplomacy without any obligation to stop killing Ukrainians. Easing economic pressure under these circumstances risks giving the Kremlin additional resources to finance its war. It is time for our partners to draw the necessary conclusions. Any serious effort to end this war must increase pressure on Moscow, restrict the revenues financing its aggression, and strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend its cities and energy infrastructure. Russia is responsible for continuing this war. Reducing the cost of its aggression while it continues attacking Ukraine will not bring peace. It can only make further aggression easier to finance.

Thank you, dear @BudrysKestutis, for Lithuania’s decisive action. An EU delisting must not be interpreted as a return to business as usual for those who help sustain Russia’s war. Lithuania has sent the right signal, and we encourage other partners to take similar national measures. There must be no expiry date on the consequences of enabling Russia’s aggression. As long as the Kremlin continues its war, the price of supporting it must only grow.