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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Wednesday of growing global nuclear risks after Russian drone strikes hit the northern city of Slavutych, which supplies power to Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said more than 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones were launched at energy infrastructure, overwhelming defenses and causing a blackout in Slavutych. The outage affected both the sarcophagus enclosing Chernobyl’s destroyed fourth reactor and facilities storing over 3,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel.
"The Russians could not have been unaware that a strike on Slavutych would have such consequences for Chernobyl," Zelenskyy stated.
Last February, a drone armed with a warhead struck the protective outer shell at Chernobyl, briefly igniting a fire, though radiation levels remained stable, according to officials.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest and one of the ten biggest globally, has been disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for more than a week. The facility is currently relying on emergency diesel generators to maintain cooling systems for its six inactive reactors and spent fuel storage.
Ukraine has blamed Russian artillery for damaging power lines, while the Kremlin claimed Ukrainian shelling was responsible.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the plant was not in immediate danger but called for its rapid reconnection to the grid. Analysts from the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War warned that Russia’s occupation of the site has "significantly degraded" safety. They also argued that Moscow aims to integrate Zaporizhzhia into its own power grid, a move the think tank said would increase risks and undermine Ukraine’s future energy capacity.
Amid heightened nuclear concerns, Russia and Ukraine carried out a large prisoner swap on Thursday under agreements brokered in Istanbul.
Zelenskyy announced that 185 Ukrainian military personnel, many of whom had been in Russian captivity since 2022, and 20 civilians were released. Since the start of the war, more than 7,000 Ukrainians have returned, he added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that 185 of its soldiers and 20 civilians were handed back by Ukraine. It said the returnees were currently in Belarus receiving medical and psychological care before being transferred to Russia for rehabilitation.
The exchange followed earlier agreements reached in Türkiye this summer, which included arrangements on the repatriation of frozen remains, the release of severely wounded soldiers, and swaps of prisoners under 25 years of age.
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