On the night of February 14, a Russian strike drone with a high-explosive warhead hit a shelter at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), causing a fire there.
This was reported by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
The fire has already been extinguished. The radiation background did not increase, although the damage is significant. This shelter protects Ukraine and the world from radiation from the destroyed 4th power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
"Ukraine built this shelter together with other countries in Europe and the world, together with America — with everyone who wants real security for people. The only state in the world that can attack such facilities, occupy the territory of nuclear power plants, and conduct hostilities without considering the consequences at all is todayʼs Russia. And this is a terrorist threat to the whole world," Zelensky emphasized.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Chornobyl site confirmed the explosion. On the night of February 14, at around 01:50, they heard an explosion from the sarcophagus, which protects the remains of the Chornobyl nuclear power plantʼs fourth unit. A fire broke out there.
The sarcophagus, damaged during a drone attack, was put into operation in 2019. The new safe confinement should provide protection for the Chornobyl NPP emergency unit for 100 years.
- During the occupation of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Russian troops destroyed its long-standing archive and threw part of it into the trash. The station itself was robbed: computers and even kettles with coffee makers were taken. And from the hotel in Chornobyl itself, the occupiers stole dinnerware, forks, spoons, and plates.
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