Thursday night, a Russian drone struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant near Ukraine’s border with Belarus, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The attack targeted a shelter designed to contain radiation from the plant’s fourth reactor, which was destroyed in the 1986 disaster. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine later reassured the public that radiation levels remained within normal limits.
Zelensky shared the details of the strike on X, stating that the unmanned Russian aircraft, packed with explosives, hit the concrete sarcophagus that shields the reactor’s remains. Although a fire broke out, it was quickly extinguished. “Radiation levels have not risen, and monitoring is ongoing,” Zelensky explained. He added that, according to initial assessments, the damage to the shelter was significant.
In response, the Kremlin denied any involvement, with spokesperson Dmitri Peskov firmly rejecting the claim. “The Russian military did not carry out this attack. Any statement suggesting otherwise is not true,” Peskov stated during a press briefing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the explosion early Friday morning, reporting that its team on-site heard the blast and was informed that a drone had hit the roof of the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the structure that covers the remains of Chernobyl’s reactor 4. A fire followed the impact, though it was quickly contained.
Chernobyl’s fourth reactor, of the Soviet-era RBMK-1000 design, was the site of the catastrophic 1986 explosion that released a vast amount of radioactive material across Europe and the Soviet Union. Since then, the reactor has been encased in a concrete and steel sarcophagus to contain the radiation, which is now further protected by the NSC.
The Ukrainian military reported that on the same night as the Chernobyl attack, Russian forces launched 133 drones across Ukraine. Of these, 73 were shot down, and 58 failed to reach their targets. The drones were intercepted in 11 regions, which covers much of the country, aligning with recent drone attack patterns.
In his statement, Zelensky remarked that such nighttime drone strikes on critical Ukrainian infrastructure demonstrate that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not preparing for peace talks. Instead, Zelensky accused him of continuing to mislead the world while planning further aggression.