Russia has refused to return the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant back to Ukraine, calling it a “Russian facility”.

“The return of the station to Russia’s nuclear sector has been a fait accompli for quite some time,” the Russian foreign ministry said yesterday.

“Transferring the Zaporizhzhia plant to the control of Ukraine or another country is impossible,” it said in a statement.

Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, was captured by the Russians just a few days into the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Since then, they have maintained control of the facility and stationed Russian staff there.

The facility has been targeted by drone attacks from both sides, forcing a UN nuclear watchdog to warn against any attacks that could endanger the plant’s reactors.

The largest city in the region, Zaporizhzhia, remains under Ukrainian control.