Russia struck the site of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility near the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant with a drone in the early hours of June 7, as announced by Ukrainian company Energoatom, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, and President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Energoatom’s data, the strike partially destroyed the container reception building, where no spent nuclear fuel was stored. The radiation background remains within normal limits, and no casualties were reported.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the strike was carried out at 2:05 a.m. by a Geran-2 type drone. Investigators discovered elements of the drone at the scene and opened criminal proceedings on charges involving the violation of the laws and customs of war. The SBU stated that the explosion damaged the building used for the reception and reloading of spent nuclear fuel, along with an IAEA administrative building.
Energoatom reported that the strike hit the container reception building at the spent fuel facility site at 02:10. Following the attack, a 40-square-meter fire broke out, but it was promptly contained and fully extinguished. The nuclear operator published photographs of the damaged building. They show a destroyed section of the facade, blown-out windows, and nearby debris.
The IAEA reported that Ukraine had informed the international agency of the attack on the central spent fuel storage facility in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. According to the agency, the strike caused serious damage to the fuel reception building — its facade, windows, and doors. Neighboring buildings were also damaged by the blast wave. The IAEA team at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is expected to visit the facility and assess the consequences of the strike.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi described the incident as “deeply concerning,” as it occurred at a facility containing large volumes of nuclear material that was located just a few meters from the damaged building. According to Grossi, attacks on nuclear facilities are “completely unacceptable” and contradict key principles of nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict.
Zelensky stated that the Russian strike had been carried out using a Shahed-type UAV against “an object of extremely critical infrastructure” and that Moscow “deliberately targeted precisely this nuclear infrastructure facility.” The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy called the very fact of a strike on a spent nuclear fuel handling facility “an unprecedented threat to nuclear and radiation safety” and urged the IAEA to urgently dispatch a mission to document the consequences of the attack.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not mention the strike on the storage facility near the Chornobyl NPP in its June 7 report. It stated only that Russian forces had struck patrol boats, fuel depots, long-range drone assembly and launch sites, temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian and foreign military personnel, and infrastructure facilities involved in the spheres of transportation, shipping, and energy.
