RUSSIA: Rosatom DG Claims Ukraine Attempted Attack On Nuclear Plant Overnight

State-run Tass reporting comments from ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, following talks with DG of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi in Kaliningrad, Russia. Likhachev claims that Ukraine launched around eight drones towards the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant in central Russia, but all were shot down. He claims that the "level of aggression by the Ukrainian Armed Forces towards nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation is increasing; this is a response to failures on the front". The governor of Voronezh province claimed that 'auxiliary equipment' was damaged at the plant, but that power was not cut off. 

• Grossi welcomed the restoration of external power at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine for the first time in six months, after repairs were made to the second external power line during an IAEA-brokered temporary and localised ceasefire. TVP World: "It currently produces no electricity, but needs external power to cool the nuclear fuel and avoid the risk of a meltdown. The first line was restored on October 23. With both lines out of operation, the plant had been without external power links for 30 days and relied on diesel generators."
• With the Zaporizhzhia NPP still right on the frontlines of the conflict (located on the west of map below at Enerhodar), the risk of destructive attacks or incident remains high. 

Chart 1. Map of Frontlines in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 13 Nov

Source: Esri, CGIAR, USGS | Esri, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, METI/NASA, USGS | Institute for the Study of War and American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project