UPDATED: Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant has no external electricity supply again – grid operator

LVIV, Ukraine, March 14 (Reuters) – The head of Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo, said on Monday the Chernobyl nuclear power station was relying on electricity from diesel generators after external power supplies to the plant were damaged again.

The nearby town of Slavutych was completely without power for the same reason, Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskiy said on national television.

 A high-voltage power line to Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant was damaged by Russian forces not long after electricity supplies were restored to the facility, grid operator Ukrenergo said in a statement on Monday.

It did not say if all external power supply to the plant had been lost as a result of the damage, but demanded access to the area to carry out repairs.

Ukrenergo did not produce evidence of the damage or the actions of the Russian forces and Reuters was unable to independently verify the extent of the damage or the cause of it.

Russian forces occupied the plant soon after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Jason Neely)

Photo – A still image taken from a handout video made available by the Russian Defence Ministry press service shows a general view of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine,. EPA-EFE/RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE