KYIV (Dispatches) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday that an explosion sounded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) site overnight.
“The IAEA team at the Chernobyl site heard an explosion coming from the New Safe Confinement, which protects the remains of reactor 4 of the former Chernobyl NPP, causing a fire,” the IAEA said on social media platform X.
The IAEA team was informed that an unmanned aerial vehicle had struck the confinement’s roof, it said.
A protective shield over the destroyed fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been struck overnight by a Russian attack drone carrying a high-explosive warhead, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Chernobyl nuclear power plant was hit by a Russian attack overnight, striking a protective shield over its destroyed fourth reactor, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The structure, known as the New Safe Confinement, was built through international cooperation to contain the remnants of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It was designed to prevent radiation leaks and safeguard the site and the broader area from environmental hazards.
According to Ukraine’s president, the strike by a Russian attack drone carrying a high-explosive warhead damaged the dome, but the fire was extinguished, and radiation levels remained stable.
The situation is being monitored to assess any potential risks.
On Friday, Russia said that an accusation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that a Russian drone had struck the Chornobyl nuclear power plant was a staged “provocation” by Kyiv to blackmail the West into giving it more aid.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, accused Zelensky of orchestrating the alleged drone attack to coincide with the Munich event as part of a lobbying effort to secure more weapons and money from the West.
“There was never any doubt that Zelensky would not come to the Munich conference empty-handed... The hands of the Kyiv regime must always be busy with some children’s rattles to distract the attention of the conference participants. Zelensky travels with performances that are backed up by provocations,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow.
“Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that this is a provocation? There can be no doubt. A performance was needed to lobby for arms deliveries and convince the world public. A scary, bloody and very dangerous performance,” she said, accusing Kyiv of using nuclear plants for “blackmail.”