FT: The US can use the NPP for the extraction of Ukrainian rare earth metals

The United States may try to use the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to stimulate the extraction of Ukrainian rare earth metals and other minerals, two senior Ukrainian officials involved in drafting the agreement between Kiev and the Financial Times said. Washington on the joint development of Ukrainian fossils.

In a conversation between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump, the latter offered Kiev assistance in managing the NPP, the White House said, noting that the ownership of enterprises by the American side "would be the best protection for this infrastructure and support for the Ukrainian energy infrastructure."

Zelensky clarified that the conversation was about the fate of the Zaporozhye NPP.

Experts interviewed by The New York Times were skeptical about the idea of transferring the Zaporozhye NPP under US control, stressing that such facilities cannot be privatized under Ukrainian law.

The NPP is located in the city of Energodar in the Zaporozhye region. The station generated about 20% of the electricity produced by Ukraine before the start of the conflict, FT notes.

In the autumn of 2022, the Zaporozhye region became part of Russia following a referendum. On October 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to take the nuclear power plant into federal ownership. Moscow and Kiev regularly accuse each other of attacks on the NPP, all its reactors are in cold shutdown mode.

The Ukrainian side expressed its intention to return the NPP under its control. The head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said that he sees no point in joint management of the station by Moscow and Kiev.