Zelenskyy warns Russian drones endanger safety at Chernobyl, at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant

Kyiv: Russia’s sustained bombardment of Ukraine’s power grid is deepening concerns about the safety of the country’s nuclear facilities after a drone knocked out power for more than three hours at the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and as Europe’s biggest atomic power plant remains disconnected from the grid, officials said.

Neither Chernobyl nor the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is working, but they require a constant

power supply to run crucial cooling systems for spent fuel rods in order to avoid a potential nuclear incident.

A blackout could also blind the radiation monitoring systems, installed to boost security at Chernobyl and operated by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Russia is deliberately creating the threat of radiation incidents,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Wednesday, criticising the U.N. watchdog and its chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, for what he described as weak responses to the danger.

“Every day of Russia’s war, every strike on our energy facilities, including those connected to nuclear safety, is a global threat,” he said.

“Weak and half-measures will not work. Strong action is needed.”

The war that followed Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour more than three years ago appears no closer to ending, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the Russians launched over 20 Shahed drones against energy infrastructure in Slavutych, the city whose power supply services Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst

nuclear accident.