A Russian drone struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, according to Ukrainian officials, who accused Moscow of once again putting nuclear infrastructure at risk.
Authorities said radiation levels remained within normal limits despite damage to the site.
Ukraine’s military and state nuclear agency said the drone hit a building at the Centralised Spent Fuel Storage Facility, located about 15 kilometres from the defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
Kyiv Accuses Russia of Endangering Nuclear Safety
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike, saying Russia had deliberately targeted critical nuclear infrastructure.
“Today, the Russians again struck the special territory around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. A ‘Shahed’ hit one of the buildings of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility. An extremely critical infrastructure facility – and an extremely vile Russian strike,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
He said radiation readings remained within normal background levels but warned that Russia’s actions reflected increasing recklessness.
“Russia deliberately struck this particular nuclear infrastructure facility. As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels. But there is certainly an increase in Russia’s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts,” he added.
Zelenskyy also claimed that Russia had launched a large-scale wave of attacks across Ukraine, involving missiles, attack drones and guided aerial bombs.
IAEA Informed, Radiation Levels Stable
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine of the drone strike on the spent fuel storage facility. The agency noted that, according to Ukrainian authorities, radiation levels at the site remained within established safety limits.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the incident reflected a broader pattern of threats to nuclear-related infrastructure.
“This is not the first time Russian forces are putting Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk,” Sybiha wrote on social media.
“Russia’s nuclear blackmail and threats to nuclear safety are systemic, deliberate, and unacceptable,” he added.
Ukrainian officials also referenced an earlier incident in which a Russian attack drone allegedly damaged the protective containment arch covering the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Russia denied responsibility for that attack.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of endangering the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, which remains under Russian control.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defence systems had intercepted hundreds of Ukrainian drones, highlighting the continuing intensity of long-range strikes by both sides in the conflict.
