1.

Preamble of war

The relationship between Russia and Ukraine has always been a conundrum. In the late
18th century, Ukraine became part of the Russian Empire. In 1917, it declared
independence from Russia but was absorbed by the Soviet Union.

In 2013, when Ukrainian President Yanukovych abandoned plans to strengthen the

country's economic relations with the EU, many Ukrainians saw the decision as a
betrayal. This led to massive protests in the country that led to the president's downfall.
In response to the situation in Ukraine, Putin decided to invade the Crimean Peninsula.
He claimed that this was a humanitarian mission, and he referred to it as an act of
National Defense.1

In February 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a region in eastern Ukraine with a large
ethnic Russian population. Putin used to legitimize his support for the separatists in
southeast Ukraine, which has a large population of Russian-speaking people. He
referred to the area as Novorossiya, which means "New Russia," in an imperial Russian
term. This move was widely condemned by Ukraine and the international community,
who viewed it as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The
annexation sparked tensions between Ukraine and Russia and escalated into a larger
conflict.

Following the annexation of Crimea, pro-Russian separatist movements emerged in

eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. These separatists,
with alleged support from Russia, sought to establish independent republics and sought
closer ties with Russia. These ties were the main reason of tensions between Russia
and Ukraine.

Although Russia denied involvement in Donbas conflict until it started its invasion of
Ukraine in 2022, Western experts believe that its actions in the region were motivated
by its anger toward the NATO expansion. Russian officials, including President Vladimir
Putin, have accused NATO of breaking its agreement not to expand its membership into
the former USSR. They see the expansion of the alliance as an embarrassing act.

1
Toal, Gerard. Near abroad: Putin, the West and the contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus. Oxford
University Press, 2017.
Despite its non-member status, Ukraine continued to strengthen its relations with NATO
during the years leading up to the invasion of Georgia which resulted in an alliance with
six privileged partners.
In 2014, Russian membership in Group Eight was suspended. The act of suspension of
the membership added more fuel to the state of affairs. In April 2022, the US
administration provided the Ukrainian military with a wide range of weapons systems to
help them fight back against the forces that Russia was putting up. These include
Howitzer artillery, armoured vehicles, helicopters, and multiple radar systems. The US
also sent hundreds of anti-armour weapons and multiple tank-killing drones, similarly,
other NATO nations also offered assistance.
On the other hand, the international sanctions against Russia escalated further. This
includes the country's energy, financial, defense, and technological sectors. Some
European countries and the US have also blocked some of the country's banks from
using a financial messaging system known as Swift. Russia's central bank was also
blacklisted. Several prominent Western companies and organizations have already
stopped doing business in Russia.

2. The details of attacks on Ukraine's Nuclear Power Plants:

Following the Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991, its nuclear program was limited to
Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Ukraine relies on reactors from these
countries for nearly half of its electricity, with four active nuclear plants (Zaprizhzhiza,
Rivne, South Ukraine, and Khmelnytskyi) and a total of 15 nuclear reactors with a
combined capacity of 13,834 megawatts (Annex A).
  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant:
Upon invading Ukraine, Russian forces captured the decommissioned Chernobyl
nuclear power plant. The facility is located 10 miles from the Belarussian border within a
1,660 square mile exclusion zone, mostly in Ukraine. Control of the area allows Russian
forces to approach Kyiv from the northwest along the shortest route without crossing the
Dnieper River on hostile territory. Chernobyl plant was officially closed after the
catastrophic explosion and fire on April 26, 1986.
It has four RBMK-1000 reactors, with Reactors 1, 2, and 3 shut down and Reactor 4
encased to contain radioactive debris. On February 4, 2022, Russian forces took control
of the facilities of Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.
Ukraine disconnected the plant from the grid of Belarus and Russia, and requested
energy synchronization from European plants, which further escalated the situation
(Annex B).

 Zaporizhzhiza Nuclear Power Plant:

On March 2, 2022 Russian forces took control of Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl Nuclear
Plants. On March 4, 2022, overnight fighting resulted in a projectile striking a training
facility at Zaporizhzhia, with Russian soldiers later taking over the factory. The six
reactors were unaffected, and no radioactive material was released. On March 31,
2022, Ukrainian personnel regained control of Zaporizhzhia facility. On September 21,
2022, continuous shelling damaged cables providing electricity to one of the six
reactors. On October 6, 2022, 150KV power line supplying electricity to Zaporizhzhia
was damaged. On October 19-20, 2022, infrastructure including building, system, and
equipment at the Zaporizhzhia plant was damaged. On December 29, 2022, shelling
damaged the 330KV Ferosplavna 1 power line connected to the plant.

 South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant:

On November 3, 2022, the plant lost its connection to one of its three 750 KV power
lines used to supply electricity to the grid. On November 23, 2022, all units were
discounted from Ukraine’s grid following a decrease in frequency resulting from the
missile strike by the Russian forces on the plants.

 Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant:

On November 15, 2022, the plant lost its connection to the grid. On November 23, 2022,
all units were discounted from Ukraine’s grid following a decrease in frequency resulting
from the missile strike by Russian forces on the plants.

 Rivne Nuclear Power Plant:

On November 15, 2022, the plant lost its connection to its 750 KV power line following
the Russian missile strikes. On November 23, 2022, all units of the plant were
discounted from Ukraine’s grid following a decrease in frequency resulting from the
missile strike by the Russian forces on the plants.

 Random attacks on the plants and grids and Putin’s statement:

In September 2022, Russia launched multiple missiles at various power-generating

facilities in Ukraine. These attacks caused electricity supply interruptions in the cities of
Kharkiv and other neighboring regions. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, admitted
that his country carried out these attacks. On October 10, 2022, Russia launched a
massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine. The main target was the country's
commercial energy grid, which included transmission and electricity-generating facilities.
The attacks lasted for several hours and several days. Various power-generating
facilities (including those in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv) were attacked from
October 10 to 11, 20222

3. Electricity Generation and Supply to NATO Allies

Fig. 1: Snapshot of Nuclear Power in Ukraine

2
DER STRICT, E. M. "BARGO UNTIL JULY 5, 2022, 9.00 AM CET."
 Fig. 2: Operable Nuclear Capacity in Ukraine 1977-2017

Fig. : Location of power plants

Table 1: Power generation capacity of NPPs

Grid
Reactor Capacity
Sr. Name Model Connectio
Type (MWe)
n
1. Khmelnitski 1 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1987-12
2. Khmelnitski 2 VVER V-320 PWR 950 2004-08
 3. Rivne 1 VVER V-213 PWR 381 1980-12
4. Rivne 2 VVER V-213 PWR 376 1981-12
5. Rivne 3 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1986-12
6. Rivne 4 VVER V-320 PWR 950 2004-10
7. South Ukraine 1 VVER V-302 PWR 950 1982-12
8. South Ukraine 2 VVER V-338 PWR 950 1985-01
9. South Ukraine 3 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1989-09
10. Zaporizhzhia 1 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1984-12
11. Zaporizhzhia 2 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1985-07
12. Zaporizhzhia 3 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1986-12
13. Zaporizhzhia 4 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1987-12
14. Zaporizhzhia 5 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1989-08
15. Zaporizhzhia 6 VVER V-320 PWR 950 1995-10

In October 2022, Russia directed much of its missile and drone attacks against the
electricity infrastructure of Ukraine, causing significant damage and restrictions to the
functionality of grids and production facilities. Russia also forced the shutdown of the
Zaporizhzhia NPP, the most significant nuclear station in Ukraine that is located now on
the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine. Together with a
moderate increase in internal consumption, the above-mentioned Russian-inflicted
damages and restrictions have exhausted a surplus of electricity production capacities
in Ukraine. This has forced the government to order a hold on electricity exports to
European neighbours and introduced internal demand correction measures.
Recently, Ukraine has begun resuming electricity exports to European countries as
announced by energy minister on 11 April, 2023, saying that a dramatic turnaround has
been made since fierce Russian bombardment of power stations plunged much of the
country into darkness six months ago.
4. Role of IAEA