The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine came back online Friday, the state operator said, a day after it was cut from the national power grid by what Ukraine said was Russian shelling.
The plant -- Europe's largest nuclear facility -- was severed on Thursday from Ukraine's power network for the first time in its four-decade history due to "actions of the invaders", Ukraine’s power company Energoatom said, according to the AFP news agency.
The operator said that as of 2:04 p.m. local time, the plant "is connected to the grid and produces electricity for the needs of Ukraine" once again.
The complex has been occupied by Russian forces and operated by Ukrainian workers since the early days of the six-month-old war.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the nuclear installation, sparking fears of a nuclear accident.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week agreed for a team of independent inspectors to travel to Zaporizhzhia via Ukraine, in an apparent resolution of a dispute over whether inspectors travel to the plant via Ukraine or Russia.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier this week said its inspectors will visit the Zaporizhzhia plant “within days”.
The UN recently demanded an end to the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Previously, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is “completely out of control.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)