Newsletters
A Russian drone struck Ukraine's Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone early Sunday, significantly damaging a fuel reception building and causing a fire, Ukrainian officials said.
The fire was extinguished, no injuries were reported and radiation levels remained within established limits, according to Ukrainian authorities. Kyiv's state nuclear energy agency, Energoatom, said no spent fuel was stored inside the damaged building at the time of the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of deliberately targeting the facility with a Shahed attack drone and described the strike as an attack on critical nuclear infrastructure.
Russia did not immediately comment on Ukraine's allegations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine informed it of the early-morning drone attack on the central spent fuel storage facility.
The strike caused significant damage to the fuel reception building, including its facade, windows and doors, while nearby buildings were also affected by the blast wave, the agency said.
The damaged building is located meters from storage areas containing large amounts of nuclear material, according to the IAEA.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi described the incident as "deeply concerning."
"Attacks on nuclear sites are completely unacceptable and in direct contravention of key nuclear safety principles," Grossi said.
The agency said its team at the Chornobyl site would visit the facility to inspect the damage and assess the impact of the attack.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said the drone struck one of the facility's buildings and partially damaged the structure.
He said the attack posed an "unprecedented threat to nuclear and radiation safety" and called on the IAEA to take immediate action.
"Such actions create risks to critical systems essential for the safe storage of nuclear materials and represent a blatant violation of international law, the principles of nuclear safety, and the IAEA fundamental safety principles," Shmyhal wrote on U.S. social media platform X.
Zelenskyy said there were no readings above normal background radiation levels following the attack.
"As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels," he wrote on X. "But there is certainly an increase in Russia's brazenness, which long ago went off the charts."
The facility is located about 15 kilometers, or 9 miles, from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
In February 2025, a Shahed drone damaged the containment arch covering the Chornobyl reactor destroyed in the April 1986 explosion and meltdown. Russia denied responsibility for that incident.
Kyiv and Moscow have also repeatedly accused each other of attacks involving the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe's largest nuclear power station.
Zelenskyy said Russian forces also struck civilian infrastructure across 13 Ukrainian regions.
He said Russia had launched 88 missiles, more than 3,250 attack drones and about 1,800 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine over the previous week.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
