Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko met with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi. The meeting took place in Vienna, where the Ministry of Energy is participating in a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors.

German Galushchenko briefed the Agency's Director General on the situation in the Ukrainian energy system, which has become much more complicated after russia had resumed massive attacks on energy infrastructure facilities. The Minister stressed that russia is targeting thermal and hydroelectric power plants, transformer substations and power lines.

"The situation is rather difficult, we have lost about 9 GW of capacity. Scheduled repairs are currently underway at nuclear power units to ensure that all available nuclear generation capacities are put into operation in winter. This is a matter of our survival, so it is crucial to ensure their safe operation," he stressed.

The Minister recalled that in November 2022, during the russian attacks, Ukrainian NPPs had experienced a blackout. In this context, the parties discussed the need to coordinate efforts to prevent such a situation from happening again.

German Galushchenko also informed Rafael Grossi about the active work on preparing for the completion of the construction project for units 3 and 4 at Khmelnytsky NPP.

Rafael Grossi noted the extreme importance of nuclear energy for Ukraine, wished success in the project implementation and expressed support for the further development of the industry.

Special attention during the meeting was paid to the situation at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Ukrainian ZNPP, which is occupied by russia. German Galushchenko expressed concern about the technical condition of the power units, the lack of qualified personnel at the plant, the militarisation of the NPP site, the mining of the facility's perimeter and the instability of external power supply due to constant russian shelling.

The Minister thanked the IAEA representatives for the work of permanent missions at ZNPP and other nuclear power plants in Ukraine, noting that this is a critical element of ensuring the safety of the facilities.

The parties also discussed preparations for the Peace Summit in Switzerland. German Galushchenko emphasised that the issue of radiation and nuclear safety is a point of the Peace Formula proposed by Ukraine, and its support by countries is extremely important for ensuring nuclear safety not only in Ukraine but also in the whole world.