Chernobyl nuclear attack: Chernobyl fuel facility attacked: Nuclear fears resurface, Kiev says Russian attack ‘deliberate’

Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone struck a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Sunday, accusing Moscow of once again putting nuclear infrastructure at risk.Authorities said radiation levels remained within normal limits despite the damage to the site.Ukraine’s General Staff and national nuclear agency said a drone hit a building at a centralized spent fuel storage facility about 15 kilometers from the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, Reuters reported.The facilities’ container receiving building was partially destroyed during the strike, the agencies said.However, no spent nuclear fuel was stored in the affected structures at the time. A fire broke out after the attack but was later extinguished and no casualties were reported.

Kyiv accuses Russia of endangering nuclear safety

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying Russia was deliberately targeting critical nuclear infrastructure.“Today, the Russians once again attacked the special area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A building at the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility was struck by lightning. This is an extremely important piece of infrastructure and an extremely despicable Russian attack,” Zelensky wrote on X.He said radiation readings remained within normal background levels but warned that Russia was acting increasingly recklessly.“Russia deliberately attacked this particular nuclear infrastructure. As of now, there have been no readings above normal background radiation levels. But there has certainly been an increase in Russian brazenness, which was off the charts a long time ago,” he added.Zelensky also said Russia had launched broader attacks across Ukraine over the past week, saying Moscow had launched 88 missiles, more than 3,250 attack drones and about 1,800 guided air bombs.

International Atomic Energy Agency reports that radiation levels are stable

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine had notified its spent fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone of a drone attack. The agency noted that, according to Ukrainian authorities, radiation levels at the site remained within established safety limits.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andry Sibiha said the incident highlighted a pattern of Russian actions targeting nuclear-related infrastructure.“This is not the first time that Russian forces have put Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk,” Sibiha wrote on X .“Russia’s nuclear blackmail and threats to nuclear security are systemic, deliberate and unacceptable,” he added.In February 2025, a Russian attack drone damaged the shield arch of a reactor destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Russia has denied responsibility for that attack.Moscow and Kiev have also repeatedly accused each other of endangering the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant controlled by Russia.Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense systems shot down 500 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours, underscoring the continued intensity of long-range attacks by both sides in the war.