A Russian drone struck a spent nuclear fuel storage facility near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday, adding that radiation levels in the area remain stable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately targeting nuclear-related infrastructure near the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, describing the attack as "incredibly vile".
"Today, the Russians once again struck the special zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A Shahed drone hit one of the buildings of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility," Zelensky wrote on X.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also condemned the strike, saying it was not the first time Russian forces had endangered Ukrainian nuclear facilities. He described the incident as part of a "systematic, deliberate and unacceptable" campaign of nuclear blackmail.
Significant damange
In separate statements, the Ukrainian military and the country's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said a building housing storage tanks sustained partial damage. However, they stressed that no spent nuclear fuel was being stored there at the time of the attack.
A fire that broke out following the strike has since been extinguished and no casualties were reported.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been informed of the incident and noted that the strike caused significant damage to the storage building. The blast wave also affected neighbouring structures.
Radiation levels
According to Ukrainian authorities, radiation levels remain within normal limits. The IAEA said a team would visit the facility in the coming days to assess the damage.
Russia has not commented on the reported attack.
The incident follows a previous drone strike in February 2025 that damaged the protective arch covering Chernobyl's destroyed reactor. Moscow denied responsibility for that attack.
The latest strike is likely to intensify concerns over the safety of nuclear infrastructure in Ukraine, where both Kyiv and international watchdogs have repeatedly warned of the risks posed by military operations near sensitive nuclear sites.
