Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy programs at the Razumkov Center, shared his opinions on Espreso TV.“The Russians deliberately shelled, as we know, the power line and substation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, cutting two lines: Ferosplavna and Dniprovska, and started diesel generators. You know everyone was shouting: ‘Any moment now, there will be an explosion, an accident,’ such panic. This was done so the Russians could reconnect to the Russian energy system. And this had already been coordinated with (IAEA Director General Rafael) Grossi — he even flew there. On October 7, they wanted to give such a gift to Putin, namely, to hand over the Zaporizhzhia NPP connected to the Russian power system,” he said.Volodymyr Omelchenko noted that Russia failed because their plans were disrupted by Ukrainian partisans.“But the day before, an event occurred that prevented this: local partisan units destroyed certain substations in the occupied territory, and the entire plan of the Russians and Grossi failed. They were forced to ask Ukraine again to reconnect the plant to the Ukrainian grid to supply electricity to the station,” he added.On September 23, the Zaporizhzhia NPP experienced its tenth blackout since its occupation by Russian forces in 2022.On October 9, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi announced the start of restoring external power supply to the Zaporizhzhia NPP, occupied by Russia, from Ukraine’s power grid.