Kravchenko: Russia ignores the security of all of Europe and, apparently, deliberately attacked the Chernobyl sarcophagus
Kyiv • UNN
The investigation confirmed Russia's deliberate attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant using UAVs. Repairing the shield damage will cost at least 500 million euros.
An investigation indicates that last year's Russian drone attack on the sarcophagus of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was apparently intentional. This was stated by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko in an interview with Reuters, UNN reports.
Last February, an object identified by Ukraine as a long-range Russian attack drone struck the Chornobyl facility, penetrating the radiation protection shield.
The Kremlin denied Russia's involvement, stating that its troops do not strike nuclear infrastructure, and that Ukraine likely carried out the attack itself as a "provocation."
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development estimated that repairing the damage would cost at least 500 million euros ($588 million), and that without such work, "irreversible corrosion" of the structure would begin within four years.
The investigation conducted by Ukrainian prosecutors found that the Russian attack was likely intentional, Kravchenko said.
According to him, the conclusion is based on the large angle at which, according to the investigation, the drone hit the protective shield. In the final phase of flight, kamikaze attack drones with explosives usually dive at the target and accelerate until impact.
Kravchenko said that the Russian military likely uses the Chornobyl area as a route for drone attacks, trying to bypass dense areas of Ukrainian air defense coverage.
Since July 2024, when Russia launched massive drone attacks on Ukraine, radars have recorded at least 92 Russian drones flying within a five-kilometer radius of the Chornobyl NPP radiation shelter, Prosecutor General Kravchenko said.
The actual number of such flights is almost certainly significantly higher than 92, Kravchenko said, as trajectories visible on Ukrainian military radars can indicate more than one drone, and sometimes drones are not detected at all.
Deliberate flights (of drones) with a powerful warhead over a nuclear facility are at least extremely irresponsible and demonstrate a complete disregard for... the safety of civilians not only in Ukraine but throughout Europe
Recall
On February 14, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a Russian attack drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective shelter at the Chornobyl NPP, the fire was extinguished, the radiation background did not change, but the damage to the shelter is estimated to be significant.
Also, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that an explosion occurred over the sarcophagus protecting the remains of reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl NPP on the night of February 14.