MELITOPOL, August 21. /TASS/. Delivery of the necessary amount of diesel fuel for the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) backup generators, to which the plant has been switched due to the shutdown of the external power supply, is impossible because the Ukrainian armed forces are attacking the access roads, which creates a difficult situation, Zaporozhye NPP Communications Director Yevgenia Yashina told TASS.

"The situation with fuel for the diesel generators is indeed difficult. Delivering the necessary amount of fuel is currently impossible due to attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on the roads. Therefore, the plant’s staff has optimized the operation of the diesel generators to use the available reserves as sparingly as possible," Yashina said.

She added that the nuclear power plant currently has fuel reserves. "As for estimates of how long the fuel reserves will last, it all depends on the duration of the external power outage and the operating mode of the diesel generators," the ZNPP spokeswoman noted.

On August 20, the Zaporozhye NPP reported a complete loss of external power due to the automatic shutdown of the last functioning 330 kV Ferrosplavnaya-1 power line. The nuclear power plant has been switched to diesel generator operation.