A Russian drone struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said, accusing Moscow of once again putting nuclear infrastructure at risk.Authorities said radiation levels remained within normal limits despite damage to the site.According to Reuters, Ukraine’s general staff and state nuclear agency said a drone hit a building at the Centralised Spent Fuel Storage Facility, located about 15 kilometres from the disused Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.The agencies said a container-receiving building at the facility was partially destroyed in the strike.However, no spent nuclear fuel was being stored in the affected structure at the time. A fire broke out following the attack but was later extinguished, and no casualties were reported.
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 X.He said radiation readings remained within normal background levels but warned that Russia’s actions showed growing 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 said Russia had launched a broader wave of attacks across Ukraine over the past week, claiming Moscow fired 88 missiles, more than 3,250 attack drones and around 1,800 guided aerial bombs.
IAEA informed, radiation levels stable
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine of the drone attack on the spent fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. 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 highlighted a pattern of Russian actions targeting nuclear-related infrastructure.“This is not the first time Russian forces are putting Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk,” Sybiha wrote on X.“Russia’s nuclear blackmail and threats to nuclear safety are systemic, deliberate, and unacceptable,” he added.In February 2025, a Russian attack drone damaged the protective containment arch covering the reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Russia denied responsibility for that attack.Moscow and Kyiv have also repeatedly accused each other of endangering the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station.Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry said its air defences had shot down 500 Ukrainian drones over the previous 24 hours, underscoring the continuing intensity of long-range attacks by both sides in the war.
