A Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead has hit the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in the Kyiv region, Ukraine said, amid warnings by the military that Russia launched 133 unmanned vehicles against the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the drone strike significantly damaged the protective containment shelter and started a fire, which has been put out. The Kremlin responded saying Russia does not hit nuclear sites.
Radiation levels at the site have not increased, according to Zelenskyy and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA did not attribute blame but said the drone strike occurred at 01:50am local time (23:50 GMT) and that there was “no indication of a breach in the … inner containment” shell, a protective cover built around the fourth reactor of the plant.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 73 drones and 58 others did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic countermeasures. It did not specify what happened to the two remaining drones it said Russia had launched.
The attacks took place as world leaders and diplomats gathered for the start of the Munich Security Conference in the southern German city, which features the war in Ukraine as one of the main items on the agenda.
United States Vice President JD Vance is expected to meet Zelenskyy for talks that many hope will shed some light on planned US-led negotiations with Russia that appeared to sideline Ukraine and its European allies.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to join Vance and Zelenskyy but his air force plane had to return to Washington after developing a mechanical problem en route to Munich. It was unclear whether he would arrive in time for the meeting.
Strike near Zaporizhzhia nuclear site
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed as a “provocation” accusations by Ukraine that a Russian drone hit Chornobyl.
“There is no talk about striking on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities, any such claim isn’t true, our military doesn’t do that,” he told reporters on Friday.
He suggested Ukrainian officials made the claim because they wanted to thwart efforts to end the war through negotiations, after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about reaching a peace deal.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry claimed multiple attacks from Ukraine overnight, saying it had shot down 50 drones in various regions.
It said Kyiv conducted an artillery attack on a thermal power plant it controls in southern Ukraine, which is located near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, causing “critical damage” to energy infrastructure. Moscow annexed the region in September 2022 but does not fully control it.
Russian-installed local officials said the attack on the power plant in the city of Enerhodar occurred late on Thursday and left more than 50,000 people without electricity. Urgent work was under way to try to restore supplies.
Russian news agencies cited a nuclear plant official as saying that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility itself had not been damaged in the attack and was operating as usual.
IAEA chief Rafael Rossi said on X that the strike on the Chornobyl plant and a recent increase in military activity near the Zaporizhzhia plant “underline persistent nuclear safety risks,” adding that the agency remains “on high alert”.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is Europe’s biggest and one of the 10 largest in the world. Chornobyl was the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in nuclear history when its reactor exploded in 1986.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the IAEA at the Zaporizhzhia facility and of risking a potentially devastating nuclear disaster by attacking the site.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said “the Ukraine war has to end” and announced he had held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they agreed to relaunch negotiations to end the conflict.
Trump has been vague about his specific intentions other than suggesting that a deal will likely result in Ukraine being forced to cede territory that Russia has seized since it annexed Crimea in 2014.
Trump’s undetailed comments about a new round of talks left Europeans worrying about whether they and their ally, Ukraine, would have a seat at the negotiating table.
