Russian drone strikes nuclear fuel storage facility near Chornobyl, Ukraine says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of carrying out what he called an “extremely vile” strike on a spent nuclear fuel storage facility near Ukraine’s Chornobyl power plant, an attack that damaged the site but did not trigger a rise in radiation levels.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it was briefed by Ukrainian officials, the strike caused serious damage to a fuel-reception building just metres from an area where “large amounts of nuclear material” are kept.

Ukraine’s state atomic agency, Energoatom, said the building was not housing spent fuel when it was hit. Fire crews later put out a blaze sparked by the strike, and officials reported no injuries.

Russia has not publicly responded to the accusation involving the facility, which lies about 15km from the Chornobyl plant, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

“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.”

In its own statement, the IAEA said a team would travel to the location shortly “to inspect the impact”.

In February 2025, a Russian Shahed drone damaged the containment arch covering the Chornobyl reactor destroyed in the April 1986 explosion and meltdown. Moscow, which has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with drones and missiles, denied responsibility.

Kyiv and Moscow have also accused each other of striking the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.

Mr Zelensky is due to meet the leaders of France, Germany and Britain for talks on the path ahead as Russia absorbs military setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere, a Russian drone strike killed a 56-year-old man working as a minibus driver in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Telegram.

A separate attack killed a 59-year-old man in the central Dnipropetrovsk region after Russian drones and aerial bombs pounded two districts, regional military chief Oleksandr Ganzha said in a Telegram post.

Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in an open letter

The assault also wounded a 35-year-old man and damaged infrastructure, Mr Ganzha said.

Earlier this month, AFP’s analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War showed Ukraine had retaken more territory than it lost to Russian forces in May, marking the second month in a row that it had done so.

At the same time, Russia’s offensive has fuelled rising prices, higher taxes, borrowing costs at their highest level in two decades, business closures and labour shortages, leaving the economy in its most difficult position since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

In an open letter to the Russian president on Thursday, Mr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin and said he was also prepared to agree to a “full ceasefire”.

Speaking on Friday at Russia’s flagship economic forum, Mr Putin dismissed claims that the Russian economy had collapsed, saying “we have descended to the same level at which Eurozone countries have been experiencing growth for the past few years”.