Russian drone hits Chernobyl shell – but radiation levels normal, Zelensky says
The drone strike damaged the structure and started a fire – which has been put out.
A Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Kyiv region during the night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Radiation levels have not increased, Mr Zelensky and the UN atomic agency said.
The drone strike damaged the structure and started a fire – which has been put out, Mr Zelensky added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later denied the claims.
“There is no talk about striking on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities, any such claim isn’t true, our military doesn’t do that,” Mr Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
He suggested Ukrainian officials made the claim about an overnight strike because they wanted to thwart efforts to end the war through negotiations, after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about reaching a peace deal.
“It’s obvious that there are those (in the Ukrainian government) who will continue to oppose any attempts to launch a negotiation process, and it’s obvious that those people will do everything to try to derail this process,” Mr Peskov said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the strike occurred at 1.50am local time. It said there was “no indication of a breach in the … inner containment” shell.
The shell is a protective cover built around the fourth reactor of the plant, which exploded in 1986, causing one of the worst nuclear accidents in nuclear history.
Built in 2016, the shell is designed to limit the release of radioactivity left in the reactor to the atmosphere.
The three-year Russia-Ukraine war has brought repeated warnings of dangers to Ukraine’s four nuclear plants, especially at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is Europe’s biggest and one of the 10 largest in the world.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on X that the strike at the CNPP and the recent increase in military activity near the Zaporizhzhia plant “underline persistent nuclear safety risks”, adding that the IAEA remains “on high alert”.
The IAEA said its personnel at the site responded within minutes of the strike, adding there were no casualties. It said its staff were informed that a drone had struck the roof of the confinement shell.
“Radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable,” it said on X.
The strike came two days after Mr Trump said he would meet with Mr Putin to discuss ending the war in a move that abruptly ended a three-year, US-led effort to isolate the Russian leader over Ukraine.
But Mr Zelensky claimed on Telegram that the Chernobyl strike showed that “Putin is certainly not preparing for negotiations”.
“The only state in the world that can attack such facilities, occupy the territory of nuclear power plants, and conduct hostilities without any regard for the consequences is today’s Russia. And this is a terrorist threat to the entire world,” he wrote.
“Russia must be held accountable for what it is doing,” he added.
Ukraine intends to provide information to US officials about the Chernobyl strike during the Munich Security Conference starting on Friday, the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel.
