As the United States tries to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia this week, an unexpected idea has emerged in the talks: potential U.S. control of a key Ukrainian nuclear power plant on the front line of the war with Russia.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed “American ownership” of nuclear power plants in Ukraine in a phone call on Wednesday, the White House said. Zelenskyy offered a somewhat different account Thursday: He said that only one nuclear power plant had been discussed —- the sprawling Zaporizhzhia plant, which is occupied by Russian forces —- and that U.S. ownership was not on the table.

“President Trump asked me: ‘What do you think about this plant?’ I told him that if it does not remain Ukrainian, it won’t function for anyone,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Oslo.

“It is illegal. It simply won’t work.”

The idea that the United States might assume control, if not ownership, of nuclear power plants in a country at war might seem far-fetched. But under the Trump administration, the United States has shown a keen interest in Ukraine’s industrial assets. Trump is pushing for a “trillion-dollar deal” for U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals.

Alex Riabchyn, a former deputy minister for energy in Ukraine, said nuclear power infrastructure was not included in previous talks about a deal for U.S. access to critical minerals, and had taken many in Kyiv by surprise.

But he emphasized that the future of the Zaporizhzhia plant is a key issue in peace negotiations. “This is super important, not only for Ukraine but for the European Union,” Riabchyn said. “We used to sell a lot of electricity to the European Union, helping them to function and decarbonize.”

In theory, at least, U.S. control of the Zaporizhzhia plant could benefit Kyiv. It could free a portion of Ukrainian land from Russian occupation and potentially ease some of the country’s energy concerns amid the ongoing war.

“American ownership of [Ukrainian nuclear plants] would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House national security adviser Michael Waltz said in a statement after Trump’s call with Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

Despite rejecting the idea of U.S. ownership of the Zaporizhzhia plant, Zelenskyy said he was open to working with the United States on the issue. “The U.S. wants to take it back from the Russians and invest in its modernization. That is a separate issue —- one that remains open for discussion,” he said Thursday. “We can talk about that.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe. Since March 2022, it has been under Russian occupation and has not been operational. The International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukraine have repeatedly warned that its proximity to the front line poses the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.

Ukraine has particular experience with nuclear catastrophe. Parts of the country are still recovering from the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where a reactor melted down in 1986 in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The country continues to maintain an extensive network of nuclear energy stations because of concerns about reliance on Russian energy imports. Ukraine’s entire nuclear energy sector is state-owned under the company Energoatom, which has partnered with international firms, including the U.S. company Westinghouse, in recent years.

Dmitry Gorchakov, a nuclear adviser with the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center, said that the best option would be for Russian President Vladimir Putin to return the Zaporizhzhia plant to Ukraine, but that he was unlikely to do so as there was nothing to gain.

“He may be willing to hand it over to the United States, especially since the plant uses a lot of Western and American equipment and systems, and four of the six power units were already converted from Russian fuel to Westinghouse fuel before the war,” Gorchakov said.

It is not clear if Trump discussed Zaporizhzhia or any other nuclear power plants in Ukraine during a call with Putin on Tuesday. Neither the U.S. nor the Russian readout mentioned the issue. The White House and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

It was also not immediately clear how controlling or even owning the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would benefit the United States. Russia has indicated it is planning to bring the plant back online, but Ukrainian nuclear experts have warned that such a move could prove dangerous.

All six of the plant’s nuclear reactors are in a cold shutdown, and the destruction of the Kakhovka dam has left it without enough water to cool the reactors when they operate. Ukrainian officials have said it would take years to restart the reactors.

Even if Zelenskyy’s government was interested in selling at least part of the nuclear power plant, it would require parliamentary approval because of its state ownership and the nuclear industry’s reliance on classified information. “This is a complicated issue, politically,” said Riabchyn, the former Ukrainian official.