Russian drone hits nuclear-fuel storage facility near Chernobyl, Ukraine says

KYIV, Ukraine - Russian forces deliberately struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, in an “extremely vile” attack that did not lead to a spike in radiation.

The strike significantly damaged a fuel-reception building yards away from where “large amounts of nuclear material” are stored, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it had been briefed by Ukraine.

Kyiv’s state atomic agency Energoatom said no spent fuel had been stored in the building at the time of the attack. The resulting fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported.

Russia has not publicly commented on the alleged strike on the facility, which is located around 9 miles from the Chernobyl plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

“An extremely critical infrastructure facility – and an extremely vile Russian strike,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that Russia had used a Shahed attack drone.

“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 a statement, the IAEA said a team would soon visit the site “to inspect the impact”.

In February 2025, a Russian Shahed drone damaged a containment arch over the Chernobyl reactor that was destroyed in the April 1986 explosion and meltdown. Russia, which regularly attacks Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with drones and missiles, denied responsibility.

Kyiv and Moscow have also traded accusations of attacking the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest.

European leaders join Ukraine’s call for ceasefire with Russia

European leaders called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate and complete ceasefire that allows talks to begin on a lasting peace deal.

Britain, Germany and France made the intervention after a meeting with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street in London hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where they discussed the conditions to end the war.

The joint statement came after Putin rejected a ceasefire proposal by Ukraine last week and an escalation in military action over the weekend.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined Starmer in condemning Russia’s missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and drone incursions into NATO territory. They committed to standing firmly with Ukraine.

Any deal with Putin would require Russia to meet five demands, the report of the meeting said. Those include:

▪ A stop to the fighting.

▪ Negotiations would start at the current line of contact and that international borders should not be changed by force.

▪ Ukraine should have security guarantees, including the deployment of a multinational force.

▪ Hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets would remain frozen until Russia compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by the war.

▪ European interests are safeguarded.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 7:17 AM.