Its , the largest nuclear facility in , is at the center of negotiations to end the war between and , which has been going on for almost four years. It is one of the most thorny points in the peace plan promoted by US President Donald Trump, but also a key element of the 20-point proposal submitted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to information from the Reuters agency, the role, status and future of the facility raise a number of critical questions.
The possibility of American involvement
The station came under Russian control in March 2022, with Moscow ever since expressing its intention to integrate it into the Russian energy system. Although the vast majority of the international community recognizes Zaporizhia as Ukrainian property, Russia insists that it is owned and managed by a subsidiary of the state-owned company Rosatom.
At the end of December, Zelensky revealed that on the American side a proposal was put on the table for tripartite management of the facility, with the participation of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, under the supervision of an American head.
Kiev, however, is proposing a different model: joint Ukrainian-American exploitation of the plant, with the US autonomously managing 50% of the electricity produced. At the same time, Russian media report that Moscow has also examined scenarios of cooperation with the United States.
The image on the ground
The nuclear power plant is located in the city of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnieper, about 550 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. It has six Soviet-engineered reactors, mostly built in the 1980s, with a total installed capacity of 5.7 gigawatts — a level that makes it central to the region’s energy balance.
Before the war, four of the six reactors had already switched to using American-sourced nuclear fuel, abandoning Russian. After the plant was seized, the five reactors were shut down, while the sixth stopped generating electricity in September 2022. Rosatom said in 2025 that it was willing to return American fuel to the United States.
Today, according to the Russian administration, all six units are in cold shutdown mode. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of attacks in the area of the station, as well as sabotage of power lines connecting it to the Ukrainian grid.
Despite Russian control, the external power supply to the station still comes from Ukraine. In recent years, the supply has been interrupted repeatedly, leaving the plant dependent on diesel generators to cool the reactors — a situation that has prompted repeated warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, has emphasized that the conduct of military operations around nuclear facilities constitutes a permanent and serious risk to global nuclear security.
Why Moscow insists on Zaporizhia
Russia says it is considering restarting the station, provided security conditions allow. The head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, has even left open the possibility of supplying electricity to Ukrainian regions.
However, according to analysts in Kiev, Moscow’s real goal is to meet significant energy needs in the southern part of Russia. “This station is of strategic importance and that is why it is a field of fierce confrontation,” notes the head of the Center for Energy Research, Oleksandr Kharchenko.
In December 2025, Russian regulators issued an operating license for one of the reactors, which was seen as an important step towards restarting it. The Ukrainian government called the decision illegal and dangerous, warning of the risk of a serious nuclear accident.
Why Kiev claims to restore the station
Ukraine is facing widespread damage to its energy system as Russian attacks on power infrastructure have intensified, intermittently leaving large areas without power, particularly during the winter months.
Experts estimate that the country faces a 4 gigawatt capacity shortfall — an amount roughly equivalent to the capacity of four Zaporizhia reactors.
Even if Ukraine regains control of the station, it will take a long time to fully restore it. According to Kharchenko, it will take at least two to three years to assess the condition of the facilities and an additional three years to restore them to normal operation. Both the state-owned company Energoatom and independent experts admit that the true picture of the plant remains unknown.
The thorn in the side of cooling reactors
One of the most serious long-term problems concerns the sufficiency of water to cool the reactors, after the destruction of the Kahovka Dam in 2023, which supplied water to the facilities.
Without adequate replenishment, the water in the cooling tanks evaporates, the temperature rises and conditions are created that could lead to a fire or serious accident.
Energoatom has reported that the level of the cooling tank has dropped by more than 15%, about three meters, and continues to recede. Ukrainian officials warn that available reserves may only be sufficient to operate one or, at best, two reactors.
