Zelenskyy accuses Russia of deliberate strike on Chernobyl facility

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on June 3, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte lay flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP-Yonhap

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow on Sunday of deliberately targeting the exclusion zone around the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, after a drone struck a building at the central storage facility for nuclear fuel.

He described the overnight incident as an "extraordinarily treacherous Russian attack."

The Ukrainian foreign ministry, energy ministry and other relevant offices were informing Kyiv's partners about the incident, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

"Russia deliberately struck precisely this nuclear infrastructure facility," Zelenskyy said. While radiation levels had not exceeded permitted limits, he said there had been "an excess of Russia's already sky-high audacity."

The container reception building was partially destroyed in the overnight attack, state energy company Energoatom posted on Telegram. No spent nuclear fuel had been stored there, it added, noting that radiation levels were within established limits.

A fire broke out in an area of 40 square meters and was subsequently extinguished, the company said.

The central storage facility in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl plant — which suffered a catastrophic accident 40 years ago — is used for the long-term storage of spent fuel from other Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been informed by the Ukrainian side of "significant damage" to the fuel reception building, also affecting the facade, windows and doors. Neighbouring buildings had also been damaged by the blast wave, it said. An IAEA team would visit the site shortly to assess the impact, the agency added in a post on X.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi described the incident as "deeply concerning," according to the post, as it had occurred at a facility containing large amounts of nuclear material, just meters from the building that was struck.

He said attacks on nuclear facilities were completely unacceptable and directly violated core principles of nuclear safety during armed conflict.

There have been several incidents at nuclear power plants in the course of Russia's war in Ukraine, now well into its fifth year. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the south has been particularly affected by the fighting.

On April 26, 1986, a test at the Chernobyl plant in what was then the Soviet republic of Ukraine spiraled out of control, triggering the world's worst nuclear accident to date. Radioactive clouds spread in weakened form across northern and western Europe.

Zelenskyy, who is due in London on Sunday for talks with his British, German and French counterparts, called on the international community to take decisive action against Russia.

"This night there were also Russian attacks on other civilian targets in 13 of our regions," he said.

Over the course of the week, Russia had deployed 88 rockets and cruise missiles, more than 3,250 combat drones and around 1,800 glide bombs against Ukraine, Zelenskyy noted.

He is due to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, the so-called E3 group of nations.