Safety fears as external power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant still out after three days

Ukrainian officials among those concerned Russia is manufacturing crisis to keep hold of frontline plant

External power to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been cut for more than three days, a record outage that has prompted safety concerns over the six-reactor site on the frontline of the Ukraine war.

Emergency generators are being used to power cooling and safety systems after the final power line into the plant was cut on the Russian side at 4.56pm on Tuesday and there is no immediate sign that the line will be reconnected.