Vienna, (AFP) - Ukraine's Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the electricity grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday, describing it as a "temporary respite in the face of an unsustainable situation".

The Agency had announced on Saturday that this nuclear facility in southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, had lost its last external source of electricity due to the renewed bombing, and had now relied on emergency generators in order to secure the current it needed to perform some safety functions, including cooling all six of its suspended reactors.

"Our teams in Zaporizhia confirm that the external feeder line that was lost yesterday (Saturday) has been restored, and that (the station) has been reconnected to the grid, which constitutes a temporary respite in the face of an untenable situation," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi wrote on his Twitter account. bear it."

The director of the UN agency added, "We need a protection zone" around the station, pointing out that he intends to go to Russia, and that he will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky soon, "with the aim of establishing this zone."

In March, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhia station, located in southern Ukraine, on the banks of the Dnieper River.

Russia officially announced on Wednesday the acquisition of the station, after it annexed four Ukrainian regions in one of which the facility is located, based on "referendums" for self-determination that were not recognized by the international community.