Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow and Washington are holding talks about jointly managing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, without Ukraine’s involvement. He claimed the United States is interested in using electricity from the plant for Bitcoin mining.
Speaking at a meeting with business leaders, Putin said discussions also include the option of supplying electricity to Ukraine, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant. He added that Ukrainian engineers would continue working at the facility but would do so under Russian passports.
Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest in Europe in March 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed joint management of the plant with the United States. He said the plant remains one of the most difficult issues in Washington’s peace plan for Ukraine.
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International bodies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, have repeatedly said that any decisions about the plant made without Ukraine’s participation are illegal.
Zaporizhzhia Plant Offline as Ukraine’s Energy System Faces Heavy Strain
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is not supplying electricity to the grid after Russian forces seized the site in March 2022. All six reactors are in safety shutdown mode and rely only on emergency diesel generators to maintain essential cooling, amid repeated power disruptions.
Ukraine’s wider energy system is also under growing pressure. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Russia has launched more than 5,000 missiles and long-range drones at Ukraine, many of them aimed at power and energy infrastructure. The scale of the attacks is higher than in previous years and has pushed energy supplies close to a breaking point.
Separately, analysts at Molfar said in a study that three active crypto mining pools operating inside Ukraine, using six miners, likely consumed around 33 kilowatts per hour. The findings were based on open-source data collected between July 2023 and June 2024.
So far, the United States has not issued any official statement confirming negotiations over the Zaporizhzhia plant without Ukraine’s participation.
