Russia has been deliberately routing drones and missiles along flight paths, dangerously close to the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine's top prosecutor told Reuters on Wednesday. The allegation raised the spectre of a catastrophic nuclear accident as the country prepares to mark the disaster's 40th anniversary.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko detailed the previously unreported Russian military activity near Ukrainian nuclear sites in written remarks to Reuters, ahead of Sunday's 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Since July 2024, when Russia began heavy drone attacks on Ukraine, radars have detected at least 92 Russian drones that flew within a five-kilometre radius of the Chernobyl plant's radiation containment shield, claimed Kravchenko.
The containment shield has been installed to prevent radiation leaking from Reactor No. 4, which exploded on April 26, 1986, causing a massive fire. Kravchenko stressed that the actual number of fly-bys was almost certainly far higher, as a single radar track can represent multiple drones and some go undetected entirely.
In a direct accusation against Moscow, Kravchenko said: "Such launches cannot be explained by any military considerations. It is evident that the flights over the nuclear facilities are carried out solely for the purpose of intimidation and terror."
The warning comes amid an already alarming situation at the site. In February 2025, a drone struck the New Safe Confinement structure above Reactor 4, breaching both its outer and inner cladding and creating a hole roughly six metres in diameter, reports said.
Ukrainian prosecutors assessed the strike was likely deliberate, based on the steep angle at which the drone hit the containment shield. Russia denied involvement, calling it a Ukrainian "provocation."
Chernobyl plant director Sergiy Tarakanov has warned that a direct missile or drone hit near the structure "will cause a mini-earthquake in the area," adding that "no one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing."
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Moreover, the International Atomic Energy Agency said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has "repeatedly expressed deep concern" about the risks these military activities pose to nuclear safety and security. Ukraine has four nuclear power plants in addition to the decommissioned Chernobyl station, including Europe's largest in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, which has been under Russian occupation since early 2022.
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