By: Riley Ney

On 23 November 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for the expertise of Pavlo Kovtnyuk, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Stock Company for National Nuclear Energy Generating in Ukraine, better known as Energoatom. In the wake of his predecessor Petro Kotin’s resignation, Kovtnyuk has taken up the role of administering over 55 percent of power to Ukraine through four active nuclear power plants, several hydroelectric dams and power grid maintenance.

Maintenance for Energoatom, though, is anything but routine. “Russian military forces began to shell and later occupy the Zaporizhzhia power plant…Further, over 100 Ukrainian people were detained by these Russian forces and their location is not yet known today,” the Acting CEO reported. Several workers at the Zaporizhzhia plant were forced by state-backed Russian forces, mercenaries like the Wagner group and unidentified insurgents to complete their routine tasks at gunpoint and under duress from their occupation.

Representative Nick Murray of Luxembourg summoned Kovtnyuk to speak before the agency. For many IAEA delegations, incursions into Ukraine’s power plants represent not just a global security issue, but a nuclear one. “Luxembourg was very disturbed about the assaults that had been happening on the power plants…we have to recognize that the nuclear issue is very disturbing to our body because we don’t want to have another [Chernobyl],” the Representative details.

“Damage to the grid throughout the war is ongoing. Plenty of times, it’s not even targeted; the Russians do not care if they strike a power line,” Kovtnyuk says. Energoatom’s experiences are the golden standard for evidence of the disruption of Ukrainian society: “They are trying to interfere with our distribution of power and control of it.” 

The result is planned and impromptu blackouts across Ukraine, many of which destabilize civilian infrastructure like hospitals and schools despite carveouts. “We try to give as much advance notice as we can, but sometimes the system is just overloaded…the power grid will short-circuit,” Kovtnyuk explains. 

The unique difficulty comes from the consistent destruction of new infrastructure, not the common lack of resources. “A lot of construction work could be done at a more entry level. However, when it comes to repairing the grid, that really depends on the unpredictable nature of the damage.” The problem, as Kovtnyuk describes it, isn’t a lack of concrete, but the need to stop restoring crumbled buildings.

The road towards a permanent solution to the occupation of Ukrainian territory, and the end of both geopolitical and personal violence in the realm of nuclear security, remains a hard one. It is the responsibility of delegates not just at the IAEA, but across all United Nations bodies, to work towards the mitigation of violent conflict.