A night attack before the Munich Security Conference started a fire but did not cause a radiation leak, says Kyiv
A Russian drone carrying a high-explosive warhead struck the protective containment shell of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine overnight, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said.
The attack came hours before the start of the Munich Security Conference, where discussions were dominated by the war in Ukraine and the announcement this week by Donald Trump that he would begin peace talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy said the damage to the shelter was “significant” and had started a fire, but he added that radiation levels at the plant had not increased. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the strike had not breached the plant’s inner containment shell.
The Ukrainian president said in a post on Telegram that the Chornobyl strike showed “Putin is certainly not preparing for negotiations”.
Ukraine released photos of the ragged hole left in the roof. Photograph: AP
“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.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office, said Ukraine planned to provide detailed information to the US about the Chornobyl strike.
Without attributing blame, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Rafael Grossi, said on X that the Chornobyl strike and the recent increase in military activity near another nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia “underline persistent nuclear safety risks”, adding that the IAEA remained “on high alert”.
Concerns have repeatedly been raised during the conflict over the safety of Ukraine’s four nuclear plants, especially the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – the largest in Europe and among the world’s 10 biggest.
The charred engine of the drone, in a photo released by Ukrainian emergency services. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied Moscow was responsible for the attack. Without presenting evidence, he said Ukrainian officials wanted to thwart efforts to end the war through negotiations between Trump and Putin.
“The Russian military doesn’t do that. They don’t. This is most likely just another provocation,” Peskov said. “That’s exactly what the Kyiv regime like to do, and sometimes, in fact, does not shy away from doing.”
Ukrainian emergency services published a photograph that showed a searchlight illuminating a ragged hole in the roof of the plant’s damaged sarcophagus.
Zelenskyy is in Munich, where he will hold talks with the US vice-president, JD Vance, that may offer some insight into Trump’s vision for a negotiated settlement to the war.
The US president told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he trusted Putin’s assurances that he wanted peace, further heightening Kyiv’s concerns. Ukraine was already on edge after Trump’s phone call with the Russian leader earlier this week.
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