Russian drone attack damages Chernobyl nuclear plant’s protective shield, no radiation leak reported

Chernobyl nuclear power plant was hit by a Russian attack overnight, striking a protective shield over its destroyed fourth reactor, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The structure, known as the New Safe Confinement, was built through international cooperation to contain the remnants of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It was designed to prevent radiation leaks and safeguard the site and the broader area from environmental hazards.

According to Ukraine’s president, the strike by a Russian attack drone carrying a high-explosive warhead damaged the dome, but the fire was extinguished, and radiation levels remained stable.

The situation is being monitored to assess any potential risks

Zelenskyy posted a video of the explosion on social media showing the moment of impact, calling the attack “a terrorist threat to the entire world”.

“The only country in the world that attacks such sites, occupies nuclear power plants, and wages war without any regard for the consequences is today’s Russia.”

The attack underscores Russia’s continued disregard for global security, Zelensky added

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed the explosion and the resulting damage took place. A drone struck the roof of the shield, the organisation reported.

“Radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable. IAEA continues monitoring the situation,” the agency said in a statement on X.

Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, remains a highly sensitive location. The explosion of the plant’s reactor on 26 April 1986 contaminated a vast area spanning Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

The site is located around 130 kilometres north of Kyiv. Russian forces briefly occupied it in the early days of the full-scale invasion

Zelenskyy, who is in Munich to participate in the security conference and the first meetings with the US administration for a possible peace deal with Moscow, said, “Russia continues to expand its army and shows no change in its deranged, anti-human state rhetoric.”

“This means that Putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations — he is preparing to continue deceiving the world.”

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said on Telegram that Kyiv will pass on all the information about the Chernobyl attack to the US administrations at the Munich Security Conference.

“Today we will give a lot of information to our American partners about the Russian attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about how they are constantly flying drones over the Chernobyl zone, about the threats to the shelter and nuclear safety that they pose,” Yermak said.

He added that “everyone is very angry about this news here in Munich.”

“In the 80s, the whole world helped the Kremlin to eliminate this tragedy, when Moscow threw unprotected people into radiation. Then the whole world invested in the shelter”.