On April 30, 2025, the head of the state corporation Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, said in an interview with Interfax that Russia was ready to consider the possibility of the US presence at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as part of the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. This statement was an unexpected turn against the backdrop of the categorical position of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which had previously emphasized that ZNPP was a Russian nuclear facility, and its transfer or joint management with Ukraine or other countries was impossible. Likhachev's statement caused a wide resonance, raising questions about the future of Europe's largest nuclear power plant and its role in peace talks.

The Zaporizhzhya NPP, located in Energodar and under Russian control since February 2022, remains one of the key topics in the context of the Ukrainian conflict. Likhachev clarified that the discussion of the American presence is possible only if there is a political decision by the Russian leadership. However, earlier, on April 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov categorically ruled out the transfer of the plant to the control of the United States or Ukraine in an interview with CBS News, stating that the Zaporizhzhya NPP is under the reliable management of Rosatom and the supervision of IAEA experts. Lavrov also noted that the only threat to the plant comes from Ukrainian attacks, which create the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.

Likhachev's statement came amid intensified negotiations between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia. According to The Wall Street Journal, in April 2025, the United States proposed assigning neutral status to the territories around the Zaporizhzhya NPP and transferring them under Washington's control, which, according to the American side, could facilitate de-escalation. This proposal was sharply criticized by Rosatom and the Russian Foreign Ministry. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also rejected the idea of ​​American control, insisting that the station belongs to the Ukrainian people.