A "local truce" has been agreed upon by Russia and Ukraine in the area of the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant while an important backup power supply is being restored, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Feb. 27.
The facility — Europe's largest nuclear power plant — was occupied by Russia in the first weeks of the full-scale war, and has since been shut down, though still needing external power to remain stable.
The agreement to cease fire while repair work on the 330-kilovolt backup line is finished was reached through the IAEA's mediation, according to the website of the Russia's proxy plant administration, part of state nuclear energy agency Rosatom.
"Demining activities are ongoing to ensure safe access for the repair teams," said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, as cited by the agency on X.
Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the situation.
Energoatom, Ukraine's own nuclear agency, declined to confirm the local truce to the Kyiv Independent, as it was not in control of the plant.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lies on the southern bank of the dried-up Kakhovka Reservoir, which emptied out in 2023 when Russia destroyed the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River.
Since occupying the plant, although Moscow has consistently put the facility in danger of a nuclear accident by using the area as a military base and neglecting basic maintenance requirements.
Through the IAEA's mediation, some regular maintenance and repairs, including on the 330 kilovolt backup line, is still going ahead.
Given the need for a stable plan to run and power it, the plant has been a focus of the on-off U.S. mediated "peace talks" between Russia and Ukraine, with some plans initially seeing the return of the facility to Ukrainian control.
The truce could be a rare successful example of a limited ceasefire in the war. More often, such ceasefires, often proposed by the Russian side, have been clearly motivated by short-term political points, rather than any intent to stop the fighting.
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