'Nuclear plants belong to the people of Ukraine'

Zelensky rejects Trump takeover of country’s energy but discusses US investment in Russian-held Zaporizhzhia

- JANE DALTON

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that “all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine” after reports that his US counterpart Donald Trump said an American takeover of the country’s nuclear power would offer the “best protection” for it.

In their first conversation since Mr Trump verbally attacked Mr Zelensky in the White House and had him thrown out, the US president suggested Washington should take ownership of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

But Kyiv says the discussions referred only to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian occupation. All nuclear power plants in Ukraine are state-owned and belong to Kyiv, he insisted. “The temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia [nuclear power plant] belongs to Ukraine, everybody acknowledges it and recognises it,” he said.

Mr Zelensky denied discussing with Mr Trump the possibility of US ownership of the Zaporizhzhia plant but said they did discuss “how to find the solution from the situation and... take the station from the Russians”.

They also talked about potential US investment in the plant, the Ukrainian leader said. But he added: “The issue with property we definitely did not discuss with Mr Trump.”

Addressing EU leaders virtually from Norway, the Ukrainian leader said Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, should stop “unnecessary demands” while warning that nothing had changed after Russia attacked his country’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, despite Mr Putin’s pledge to halt such strikes.