Ukraine has accused Russia of conducting a drone attack near a spent fuel storage site close to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukrainian authorities reported on Sunday that although a building sustained partial damage, no spent fuel was present at the location when the strike occurred. A fire broke out but was successfully extinguished, and there were no reports of injuries.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybyla stated that this is not the first instance where Russian forces have endangered Ukrainian nuclear facilities. He labeled Russia’s conduct concerning “nuclear blackmail” and threats to nuclear security as systematic, deliberate, and unacceptable. Russia has not yet issued an official public statement regarding the attack.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced its intention to visit the site shortly to assess the impact of the incident. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called the event “extremely worrying” because it occurred near a facility that stores large quantities of nuclear material. He stressed that attacks on nuclear sites are completely unacceptable and directly violate fundamental principles of nuclear safety.
The region has seen previous incidents; for example, in February 2025, an attack drone damaged a protective arch over the Chernobyl reactor that was destroyed during the April 1986 explosion and meltdown. At that time, Russia denied responsibility. Furthermore, Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine-Europe’s largest-that is under Russian occupation.
