A Russian drone struck a nuclear fuel storage facility inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone on June 7, 2026, in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an “extremely vile” attack on critical nuclear infrastructure. The building was empty of fuel containers at the time, and radiation levels remained stable after the strike.
What happened
The strike occurred at approximately 02:05 to 02:10 a.m. local time, according to Ukrainian officials. The weapon was identified as a Shahed/Geran-2 drone, the same Iranian-designed munition that Russia has used extensively throughout the war.
The target was the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility, specifically its reception building. This is the structure designed to receive and process spent nuclear fuel containers before they go into long-term storage. The building was unoccupied at the time, and no spent fuel containers were inside.
Initial assessments indicated partial destruction of the reception building. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed significant damage to the building’s facade, windows, and doors, noting that blast effects were also visible on nearby structures.
