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Statement of the MFA on Russia's Strikes Against Substations Supplying Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

31 October 2025 20:46

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns Russia's deliberate strikes against substations whose stable operation ensures the reliable external power supply of Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

These facilities are part of the infrastructure regularly visited and assessed by IAEA expert teams as part of missions to substations critical for nuclear safety and nuclear security in Ukraine.

For the first time since 12 December 2024 — the date when the IAEA Board of Governors adopted Resolution GOV/2024/73, which highlights the direct threat to nuclear safety and nuclear security posed by attacks on external power infrastructure of nuclear power plants — Russia has again carried out targeted strikes on such substations.

According to the IAEA, the morning military activity of 30 October damaged substations essential for the safe external power supply of nuclear power plants. Ukraine fully shares the concerns expressed in the Director General's latest update.

Deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities that directly affect the safe operation of nuclear installations bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism and constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law — in particular, the principles of distinction and proportionality.

Such actions are incompatible with the IAEA's "Seven Indispensable Pillars," primarily the fourth pillar, which stipulates the need for a reliable external power supply for all nuclear facilities.

Given the nature of target selection, the systematic destruction of key substations, and the correspondence between chosen targets and the external power supply schemes of nuclear power plants, there is reason to believe that representatives of Russian state-owned energy companies, including the State Corporation "Rosatom," were involved in planning these attacks.

Such involvement, relying on specialized technical data, demonstrates complicity in actions that constitute elements of nuclear terrorism and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

Ukraine insists on holding the Russian Federation, as well as the responsible officials and corporate entities, accountable in both national and international jurisdictions.

We call on our partners to significantly strengthen sanctions pressure, in particular by expanding restrictions against the State Corporation "Rosatom" and its affiliated entities, ensuring the complete cessation of any cooperation with them in the civil nuclear sector, and enhancing export control measures on the supply of equipment and technologies to the Russian energy industry.