On January 30, 2026, an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) took place in Vienna at the request of Ukraine. The main topic was the critical situation of nuclear security in Ukraine, which is caused by attacks by the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, reports the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on its website.
At the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation called for the suspension of Russia’s membership in the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“A state that intentionally undermines nuclear safety cannot be a full member of the agency’s main policy body,” quotes the Ukrainian Energy Ministry’s website Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal.
According to Shmyhal, Russia is systematically and specifically attacking substations that are responsible for the external power supply of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. This endangers nuclear safety.
Denys Shmyhal thanked IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and partner states for clearly condemning Russia’s actions and for supporting Ukraine’s energy and nuclear security, reports the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.
According to the ministry’s portal, the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was also discussed at the meeting of the Board of Governors. According to Energy Minister Shmyhal, the country has already completely lost external power supply twelve times since Russia’s invasion, which poses significant risks for nuclear safety.
The Ukrainian delegation to the IAEA called on member states to impose comprehensive sanctions against the Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
According to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, 49 statements condemning Russia’s actions were made at the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors – 45 from individual member states and four collective statements.
In the run-up to the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha reported to the lb.ua portal about Russian plans to restart one of the six shutdown reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. And that endangers radiation safety in the region, says Syhiba.
Ukraine also repeatedly attacks nuclear power plants and their infrastructure.
In a video the Ukrainian army showed in July 2022how she “delicately worked her way through the positions of the Russian occupiers not far from the nuclear power plant.” The Ukrainians’ bullets were probably 500 meters away from the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant:
On September 26, 2025, the Ukrainian portal fbc.biz.ua/, citing Russian sources, reported a drone attack near the Russian Kursk nuclear power plant.
And the BBC Ukrainian service reports, citing Russian sources, that on the night of October 7, 2025, a Ukrainian drone crashed into a cooling tower at the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant.
Much of Russia’s alleged goodwill gesture is unclear
According to US President Trump, Russia will refrain from attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure for a week. And at least in the first two days after this statement, there actually appear to have been no attacks on Ukraine’s or Russia’s energy infrastructure. But much about this alleged Russian goodwill gesture is unclear. Will this “energy truce” last a week, as Trump said, or just until Sunday, February 1, as Putin’s spokesman Peskov said? Has Russia really been convinced by this energy ceasefire or are there completely different reasons that are currently preventing the military from carrying out such attacks?
In any case, the attacks continue. On Saturday night, 85 Russian drones attacked Ukrainian territory, reports the press center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
At the same time, it became known that the Russian armed forces had captured the town of Ternovatoe in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The governor of the Russian Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reports that over ten Ukrainian drones attacked the Belgorod region. A woman was injured.
But even without current attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid, the situation is catastrophic. The electricity was switched off in many regions. While it was clear in the past when the power would come back, the shutdowns are now unforeseen and for an indefinite period of time. In Kharkiv the metro has come to a complete standstill, in Kyiv it has largely come to a standstill. There is no running water in some areas of Kyiv.