Ukraine: Russian Drone Strikes Chernobyl Reactor Shell; Kremlin Denies Claims Of Attack

Within two days after US President Donald Trump said he would meet Russian President Putin to discuss ending the war against Ukraine, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective containment shell of Ukraine's Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region during the night. However, the Kremlin spokesperson denied the Ukrainian claims.

The three-year Russia-Ukraine war has brought repeated warnings of dangers to Ukraine's four nuclear plants, especially at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is Europe's biggest and one of the 10 largest in the world.

What Did Ukraine Say?

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the strike damaged the structure and started a fire, which has been put out.

Zelenskyy claimed on Telegram that the Chernobyl strike showed that “Putin is certainly not preparing for negotiations” — a claim Ukrainian officials have repeatedly made.

“The only state in the world that can attack such facilities, occupy the territory of nuclear power plants, and conduct hostilities without any regard for the consequences is today's Russia. And this is a terrorist threat to the entire world,” he wrote.

“Russia must be held accountable for what it is doing,” he added.

Russia Denies Attack

Refuting the Ukrainian claims of the strike, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said, “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 suggested Ukrainian officials made the claim about an overnight strike 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.

“It's obvious that there are those (in the Ukrainian government) who will continue to oppose any attempts to launch a negotiation process, and it's obvious that those people will do everything to try to derail this process,” Peskov said.

IAEA Confirms Strike

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Chernobyl strike occurred at 1:50 am local time confirming that there was “no indication of a breach in the inner containment” shell, as per The Associated Press.

The outer shell that was hit is a protective cover built in 2016 over a heavy concrete containment structure. The inner layer was placed on the plant's fourth reactor soon after the 1986 disaster, which was one of the worst accidents in nuclear history. The containment shells seek to prevent radiation leaks.

IAEA chief Rafael Rossi said on X that the Chernobyl strike and the recent increase in military activity near the Zaporizhzhia plant “underline persistent nuclear safety risks,” adding that the IAEA remains “on high alert.”

The IAEA said its personnel at the site responded within minutes of the strike, adding there were no casualties.

“Radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable,” the IAEA said on X.