Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone struck and “significantly” damaged the protective sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant but that radiation levels were normal after the incident.
Zelenskyy said in a statement that the concrete sarcophagus damaged in the strike covered Chernobyl's decaying reactor number four and accused Russia of “completely disregarding the consequences” of such an attack.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the damage. "During the night of 13-14 Feb, at around 01:50, IAEA team at the Chornobyl site heard an explosion coming from the New Safe Confinement, which protects the remains of reactor 4 of the former Chornobyl NPP (New Safe Confinement ), causing a fire. They were informed that a UAV had struck the NSC roof," the nuclear watchdog posted on X.
“This is a terrorist threat to the entire world,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said the fire at the site had been extinguished and that authorities are continuing to monitor radiation levels.
His statement comes amid a push by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate an end to the full-scale invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched against Ukraine three years ago this month.
Zelenskyy said Russia “carries out such attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and our cities every night” and accused Putin of “definitely not preparing for negotiations.
“He is preparing to continue deceiving the world,” Zelenskyy said.
'Shahed Drones'
Russia's state-run TASS news agency on February 14 cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as calling Zelenskyy's statement a "provocation" and a "fabrication" but provided no evidence for those claims.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on February 14 that Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 133 Shahed drones, 73 of which were shot down.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s nuclear power facilities have been repeatedly attacked, prompting concerns from the IAEA and the international community about possible radiation leaks.
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Near Chernobyl, Residents Recall Brutality Of Russian Invasion
The sarcophagus that Zelenskyy said was hit in a Russian drone stroke covers reactor number four at Chernobyl, the site of site of the worst nuclear accident in history in April 1986.
The new confinement structure over the damaged reactor was completed in 2019 as part of a $2.2 billion international project involving 45 countries. The United Nations predicted the new shield “should make the reactor complex stable and environmentally safe for the next 100 years."
Svitlana Vodolaha, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, said on February 14 that the scale of the damage to the protective shield was not yet clear.
“For now, we can say that the open fire that broke out as a result of the attack was extinguished by rescuers,” Vodolaha said, adding that rescue teams were “working to eliminate” smoldering in one area.
In a February 14 post on X, European Union Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas accused Russia of “recklessly” attacking the Chernobyl site and said “such attacks on civilian nuclear sites are unacceptable.”
“It shows once again that Russia is not looking for peace,” Kallas wrote.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance was expected to meet Zelenskyy on February 14 at the Munich Security Conference.
Andriy Yermak, chief of Zelenskyy's office, said in a post on X that the Ukrainian side would provide its "American partners" information "about Russia's attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, about how they are constantly launching drones over the Chernobyl zone," and about the threats to nuclear safety that they pose.