After threatening part of Europe to cut off the oil valves, after having stopped supplying electricity to Finland, Russia continues its energy blackmail. The Kremlin asked Ukraine on Thursday to pay for the electricity produced by its own nuclear power plant located in Zaporizhia, occupied by the Russian army.

“If Ukraine's energy system is ready to take and pay, then (the plant) can run for Ukraine. If (Ukraine) does not accept, then (the plant) will turn for Russia,” said Marat Khousnullin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister during a trip to the site of the nuclear installation on Wednesday, quoted by the Russian agencies. "We have a lot of experience with nuclear power plants, we have companies in Russia that have this experience, there is no doubt that (the one in Zaporizhia) will continue to work," he added, implying that the Russians were able to take control of it.

"No one is going to buy anything from them," reacted Leonid Oliynyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, who indicated on Thursday morning that the Zaporizhia power plant, the largest in Europe, was still supplying Ukraine with electricity. The Russians "do not have the technical capability to supply energy from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant", he added. “It takes time and money. It's like building a bridge in Crimea. And in a month or two we will take everything back under Ukrainian control.” He also assured that the Russians did not have the ability to cut off electricity to regions of Ukraine not under Russian control. "All necessary equipment is under Ukrainian control," he said.

A Lasting Russian Occupation of the South?

In 2021, i.e. before the Russian offensive against Ukraine launched on February 24, 2022, the plant represented 20% of Ukraine's annual electricity production and 47% of that produced by the Ukrainian nuclear fleet. Moscow forces took control in early March of the site in the town of Energodar, in southern Ukraine, separated by the waters of the Dnieper from the regional capital Zaporijjia, still under Ukrainian control.

The clashes that took place there in the first days of the conflict raised fears of a possible nuclear disaster in the country where a reactor exploded in 1986 in Chernobyl.

The Russian deputy prime minister's statement joins those of other Kremlin officials in recent weeks who have hinted that Russia is preparing a lasting occupation or even annexation of areas of southern Ukraine it controls. “I see the future of this region as working within the friendly Russian family. That's why I came, to help the integration as much as possible, "he said in particular on Thursday. Russian officials and pro-Russian authorities put in place by Moscow also said last week that the Ukrainian region of Kherson was very likely to be annexed by Russia.

Russia's control of the Sea of ​​Azov coastline (Kherson, Zaporizhia and Donestk) including the port of Mariupol, provides a land bridge to connect Russian territory to the Crimean peninsula which it annexed in 2014 By launching his offensive, Vladimir Putin had however assured that Russia was not going to occupy Ukrainian territories.