Trump wants the United States to control nuclear plants in Ukraine. How exactly this works?

US President Donald Trump raised the eyebrows with his suggestion that American interests can somehow control the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian forces During the past three years.

How will this work and the possibility of the Zaporizzhia factory from Russia’s hands among many of the questions raised by Trump’s proposal, which apparently floats During a phone conversation in the middle of the week With Ukrainian President Voludmir Zelinski.

Trump said that “US ownership” for all nuclear factories in Ukraine “will be the best protection of this infrastructure,” According to the White House. Kyiv still controls the other three plants.

Zelenskyy told the correspondents later that they only discussed the Zaporizhzia factory – and the possibility of us Help in restoring it – During the invitation: “The president asked me if there was an understanding that America can recover it, and I told him yes, if we can update it, invest the money.”

It seems that the US scenario that runs a foreign nuclear factory, in a disputed area less than that, without a precedent, according to Melinda Harring, an Ukraine expert and oldest unknown at the Eurasia Center in the Atlantic Council.

“It is strange, to be honest,” I told Bloomberg.

Russia has occupied the vast nuclear factory, the largest in Europe, since the first days of its widely invaded Ukraine, and it has problems. Its six reactors In cold closureThe facility lost its main supply for cooling water and no one knows the status of its equipment.

It seems that any efforts to revive the factory will take years – saying two and a half, Zelensky said – in addition to overcoming obstacles to obtaining the nursery of the facility itself.

Despite attempts, Moscow forces were unable to connect the facility to Russia and do not produce any energy.

Pressure on Russia

He told the Ukrainian industry sources whose identity has not been identified that Trump’s proposal could be an example of United States tests for different ideas to find out what succeeds, as Trump is seeking to clarify a deal to end the war quickly.

One of the sources said that the idea puts pressure on Russia by proposing an arrangement in which the factory should be delivered. The source said that the Americans were raising the situation using the word “ownership.”

Others say that the presence of the United States can deter Russia from sabotaging or attacking energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

“Russia cannot play these games”, with the United States, Tymofiy Mylovanov, former Ukrainian Minister of Economy, I told BBC News.

“Russia respects the power more than Ukraine.”

“Anything possible with Americans,” said one of the senior former Ukrainian officials, but he admitted that the proposal was “very unusual.”

“The Americans will have – and on what reasons? It belongs to Ukraine … will they buy it? Will they take it as a privilege? Many questions.”

This is separate from the question of how Russia is convinced to give up control.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “is still the maximum of his demands”, Maxim Taker, a journalist for the Times in the United Kingdom, Radio Times said this week.

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“Everything he asks aims to undermine Ukraine as a sovereign country.”

Obtaining the strength of the Zaporizhzia factory that generates power for the Ukrainians again would help the country ultimately rebuild it, and given, Taker said he could not see Putin agreed.

Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (International Atomic Energy Agency) He said Friday The agency has been encouraged to see the fate of the Zaporizizhia factory “which is considered in the ongoing conversations” related to the war in Ukraine.

General Manager Rafael Mariano Grosso said the International Atomic Energy Agency was ready to provide assistance “in implementing a future agreement on the factory.”

“Bag without handle”

Olixander Kharchanko, an energy analyst in Kiev, said that the factory’s return to the Ukrainian network-as Kiev-Sik will “change games” to power generation not only for Ukraine but also for Eastern and Central Europe.

The station provided 20 percent of energy production in Ukraine before the war. Ukraine began electricity exports on a large scale to the European Union just before the invasion, but it stopped when Russia collected its infrastructure with missiles and drones.

Kharchenko said it would take up to one year to restart one reactor, and even four years to operate the entire station due to various problems.

For one of them, the factory has lost access to water from a tank as a choufka now expressed after its electrical stop and the dam It was detonated in 2023 Before the Ukrainian attack.

Since then, the nuclear facility has been taking water from a cooler pond, but the water level decreased.

Engineers at the Ministry of Energy in Ukraine say that water shortage means that only a maximum of the six factory reactors can be operated.

What’s more, they say it will take at least a year to restart even those limited operations because the technical status of the factory is unknown.

One of the employees of the factory who escaped life under occupation and now lives in Kiev told Reuters that Ukraine formulated a detailed plan for the possible return of the facility.

The employee, who asked not to be named because their relatives still live under occupation, said that this will not be sufficient for Russia to hand over the nuclear factory only.

The worker said that the Russians will also need to abandon the neighboring thermal power plant, the nearby settlements including Enerhodar and a road on the road to the city of Zaporizhzia, which is controlled by Ukrainian.

However, for some people such as retired and residents of Zaporizhhia Olha Shyshkyna, the return of the plant one day seems to have no actual benefit to the Russian side yet.

“For Russia, our nuclear plant is like a bag without a handle. After all, it is not working, and now it is just a play. For us, it’s very important,” she said.