Russian drone strike hits spent fuel storage near Chernobyl, no radiation rise reported

A Russian drone targeted a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel located about 15 km from the Chernobyl power plant on Sunday, causing significant damage to a fuel‑reception building, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said after being briefed by Ukrainian officials. Kyiv’s state atomic agency, Energoatom, reported that no spent fuel was stored in the building at the time of the strike, the fire was extinguished and no casualties occurred.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as "extremely vile" and accused Russia of using a Shahed drone, adding that radiation readings remain at normal background levels. > "As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels. But there is certainly an increase in Russia’s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts," he said.

The IAEA announced that a team will soon visit the site to assess the impact. The incident coincided with a series of Russian aerial attacks elsewhere in Ukraine that killed at least five people, including two in the Zaporizhia region and two in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukrainian forces responded with a drone strike in Russia’s Belgorod border area, resulting in civilian casualties.

Ukraine’s air force reported intercepting 215 of 236 drones launched by Russia overnight. The attacks occurred as world leaders gathered in London for talks on increasing pressure on Moscow, with President Zelenskyy scheduled to meet leaders from France, Germany and the United Kingdom.