Russian drone sets fire to Chernobyl’s containment shield

Radiation levels remain normal at site of 1986 nuclear meltdown, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A Russian drone struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant early Friday, setting fire to the shelter that contains radiation from the site of the largest nuclear disaster in history, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fire had been extinguished and no increase in radiation levels had been recorded. Speaking to reporters at the opening day of the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said the drone flew at about 280 feet (85m), below radar level.

“The blow to the sarcophagus was very dangerous,” he said. He also wrote on social media that the damage was significant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the damage to the containment shelter was significant. Picture: AFP/International Atomic Energy Agency

Videos posted by Ukrainian officials showed a large explosion igniting a fire on the containment shell at around 2am. Photos and videos showed a hole in the outer layer of the structure.

The containment shell was installed in 2016 to enclose radiation from the power plant’s reactor 4, which exploded in 1986, sending plumes of radiation across Europe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear safety, posted on X that its personnel at Chernobyl had heard the explosion, but that there was no indication that the inner containment shell had been breached. The agency said radiation levels remained normal but warned that military activities around nuclear power stations in Ukraine posed risks.

Kaja Kallas, the vice president of the European Commission, condemned the attack. “It shows once again that Russia is not looking for peace,” she wrote on X.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no detailed information about what happened, but he denied any Russian attack on nuclear infrastructure.

“This is most likely another false flag manipulation,” the Russian state news agency TASS reported him as saying.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago, Ukraine’s nuclear facilities have repeatedly become combat sites.

In the first weeks of the war, Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl plant and drove armoured vehicles through some of the most contaminated parts of the exclusion zone, kicking up radioactive dust. Before retreating from the site in the spring of 2022, they ripped monitors off the plant’s walls and left the site covered in graffiti and human faeces.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – the largest nuclear power station in Europe – has also been the site of repeated explosions and skirmishes since Moscow seized control of it. Located in the city of Enerhodar along the Dnipro River, which divides the Russian and Ukrainian forces in the area, the plant is perilously close to the front line.

Russia has militarised the power plant site. It has stationed hundreds of troops there and launched rockets at Ukrainian positions. Ukraine, meanwhile, launched repeated raids on the site in an unsuccessful effort to retake the plant in 2022, according to multiple soldiers who took part in those operations.

Parts of an explosive device were found at the Chernobyl shelter after the drone attack on Friday. Picture: Tetiana Dzhafarova / AFP

Several other Ukrainian nuclear plants have been threatened by drones and other munitions.

“These ongoing threats continue to jeopardise the nuclear safety and security of nuclear power plants,” Rafael Grossi, director of the IAEA, said last month in an update on the status of the Ukrainian nuclear plants. “No one stands to gain from attacks on nuclear facilities.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s electric grid have, in part, prompted Ukraine to embark on an expansion of one of its nuclear power plants, in the western Khmelnytskiy region. Zelensky visited the site on Thursday, and he announced this week that the expansion will allow Ukraine to operate its grid without importing electricity.

“Nuclear energy is the backbone of Ukraine’s electricity supply – it ensures we have light, power and life,” Zelensky said. “I believe it has, in many ways, helped preserve our state, especially through these three difficult winters.”

Dow Jones Newswires