A Russian Shahed drone struck a building at the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility near the decommissioned Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant on June 7, 2026. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “extremely vile” and framed it as part of an escalating pattern of deliberate strikes on the country’s nuclear infrastructure.
The early-morning strike damaged a fuel-reception building but caused no casualties and no elevation in radiation levels, according to Ukrainian officials. First responders extinguished a fire at the site without reported injuries.
This is the second confirmed drone strike on Chornobyl since February 14, 2025, when a drone hit the New Safe Confinement structure, the massive arch built to contain radioactive remnants of the 1986 disaster.
What happened and why it matters
The Chornobyl facility, while decommissioned, still houses significant quantities of spent nuclear fuel. Spent nuclear fuel is intensely radioactive material that requires careful containment, cooling, and monitoring. Damaging the buildings designed to handle that material introduces risks that extend well beyond Ukraine’s borders.
