- Russia strikes Chernobyl spent nuclear fuel facility: Russian forces targeted a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant Sunday, significantly damaging a fuel-reception building meters away from where large amounts of nuclear material are stored, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it had been briefed by Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “extremely vile” and accused Russia of using a Shahed drone. Ukraine’s state atomic agency Energoatom said no spent fuel was stored in the building at the time, the resulting fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported. Radiation levels remained within normal range.
Russian strikes kill 3, damage nuclear fuel storage site near Chernobyl, Ukraine says
Three people were killed in a Russian drone strike while waiting at a bus stop in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday, while a separate strike damaged a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Chernobyl, Ukrainian officials said.
In addition to the three killed, another person was wounded in the drone attack in Balabyne, in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on his Telegram channel.
The storage center damaged in the separate strike is located in the Kyiv region, just nine miles from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s General Staff said. That attack “partially destroyed” the facility, which was empty at the time, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom wrote on Telegram. It also sparked a fire, spanning roughly 40 square meters, or 430 square feet, the operator said.
The fire was extinguished within an hour, and radiation remains within safe levels, officials said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the incident was “deeply concerning” due to the large amounts of nuclear material held at the facility. He said in a statement that the agency would visit the site of the attack soon.