Russian missiles are flying near Chernobyl: does this pose a risk of another accident?
22 April 14:09
Russia has repeatedly launched drones and missiles along flight paths near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during its attacks on Ukraine, increasing the risk of a major accident, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko told Reuters, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
In addition to the decommissioned Chernobyl NPP, Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, including Europe’s largest, which is located in the south of Zaporizhzhia Oblast and was occupied by Russian troops shortly after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to Kravchenko, since the invasion, both the Chernobyl NPP and the two-reactor Khmelnitsky NPP in western Ukraine have been within the flight path of Russian “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles. Thirty-five “Kinzhal” missiles were detected at various distances within approximately 20 km of the Chernobyl facility or the Khmelnytskyi NPP, he said. Of these, 18 flew within approximately 20 km of both facilities during a single flight, Kravchenko added.
“Such launches cannot be explained by any military considerations. It is obvious that flights over nuclear facilities are carried out solely for the purpose of intimidation and terror,” he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on this. The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that it frequently reports on military activity near nuclear power plants and attacks on electrical substations, which are critical to nuclear safety.
“IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has repeatedly expressed deep concern about the risks and dangers of this military activity to nuclear safety,” the statement said.
The Director General has also repeatedly called for maximum restraint near nuclear facilities to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.
Missiles continue to fall
The “Kinzhal” is an air-launched hypersonic missile capable of carrying a 500-kilogram warhead. Traveling at a speed of 6,500 km per hour, it covers 5 km in a matter of seconds.
In three separate instances, according to Kravchenko, “Kinzhal” missiles fell to the ground during flight and landed approximately 10 km from the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant.
It is unclear why the missiles fell, but Kravchenko said there were no signs on the debris that they had been intercepted. The 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant caused radiation to spread across Europe and prompted Soviet authorities to mobilize a massive amount of personnel and equipment to clean up the aftermath of the accident. The plant’s last operating reactor was shut down in 2000.
Russia occupied the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant for more than a month during the first weeks of its invasion, initially attempting to advance toward Kyiv, and then retreated. According to Kravchenko, since July 2024, when Russia launched massive drone attacks on Ukraine, radars have detected at least 92 Russian drones flying within a five-kilometer radius of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s radiation shield.
The containment screen was installed to prevent radiation leaks from Reactor No. 4, which exploded on April 26, 1986, causing a massive fire. According to Kravchenko, the actual number of flights was almost certainly much higher than 92, as the traces visible on Ukraine’s military radars may indicate the presence of multiple drones, and sometimes drones do not appear on the radar at all.
“Deliberate flights (of drones) carrying a powerful warhead over a nuclear facility are, at the very least, extremely irresponsible and demonstrate a complete disregard for… the safety of the civilian population not only in Ukraine but throughout Europe,” he said.
Irreversible corrosion
Last February, a target identified by Ukraine as a Russian long-range strike drone struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, piercing the radiation shield. The Kremlin denied Russia’s involvement at the time, stating that its forces do not attack nuclear infrastructure and that Ukraine likely carried out the attack itself as a “provocation.”
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development estimated that repairs would cost at least 500 million euros ($588 million), and that without such work, “irreversible corrosion” of the structure would begin in four years. An investigation conducted by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office showed that the Russian attack was likely intentional, Kravchenko said.
According to him, the assessment was based on the steep angle at which, in their opinion, the drone crashed into the protective screen. In their final phase, single-use attack drones carrying explosives typically dive toward the target and accelerate until impact. Kravchenko stated that the Russian military likely uses Chernobyl as an attack route for drones to try to bypass dense Ukrainian air defense coverage zones. Ukraine, which has limited air defense resources to protect a territory twice the size of Italy, concentrates them near populated areas and critical infrastructure to maximize their effectiveness against Russian attacks. The Chernobyl site, located less than 10 km from the border with Belarus and approximately 100 km from Kyiv, is surrounded by an exclusion zone of contaminated wilderness.
