Ukraine marks 40 years since Chernobyl amid war
Ukraine is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster amid fears that Russia’s four-year war could lead to a repeat of the world’s worst nuclear accident, which caused thousands of deaths and devastating environmental consequences.
Kiev said Moscow had repeatedly sent missiles and drones into the flight path near the facility to attack Ukrainian cities, even damaging a critical protective shield in an attack last year.
Marking the disaster that spilled radioactive material across much of Europe as Soviet authorities tried to conceal its true extent took on a stark new meaning during Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor.
Foreign officials, including the EU energy commissioner, arrived in Kiev to mark the event and pledge new support for Ukraine’s energy system, which has been the target of regular Russian air strikes.
Somber ceremonies were held at a commemoration of fallen first responders in Kiev and in the purpose-built city of Slavutych in northern Ukraine for evacuated plant workers.
“Chernobyl has become a symbol of both the criminal irresponsibility of the Soviet totalitarian system and the heroism of the liquidators who responded to the disaster,” Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on channel X on Sunday.
“Chernobyl is one of the most important lessons of humanity. Russia’s war against Ukraine has further increased these risks.”
A Russian drone strike in February 2025 punctured a massive arc installed in part of the Chernobyl facility in 2016 to protect a sarcophagus built in 1986 to cover tons of radioactive debris. No leaks were detected and workers sealed the hole.
But the arc needs more extensive repairs worth at least 500 million euros ($821 million) to prevent permanent damage, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is helping raise funds for the project.
Speaking in Kiev on Sunday, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said repairs should begin as soon as possible.
Ukrainian radars have detected at least 92 Russian UAVs flying within a 5-kilometer radius of the shield since June 2024, Kiev’s chief prosecutor told Reuters.
Nuclear energy has become the backbone of Ukraine’s energy system since Russia’s 2022 invasion, accounting for about 70 percent of total energy production, according to state-owned firm Energoatom.
Control of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, is a key sticking point in US-brokered peace talks between Kiev and Moscow.
The facility risks a disaster worse than Chernobyl if it is not handed back to Ukrainian control, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
Millions of people were exposed to radiation, hundreds of thousands were forced to flee, and large areas were contaminated following the accidental explosion at the Soviet-built Chernobyl facility in the early hours of April 26, 1986, and the resulting meltdown of the fourth reactor.
Thousands of people have since succumbed to radiation-related illnesses such as cancer, but the total death toll and long-term health effects remain a matter of intense debate.
Pope Leo said on Sunday that the Chernobyl disaster had left its mark on humanity’s collective conscience and called for atomic energy to be “always used to support life and peace.”
About 100 km north of Kiev and surrounded by a 2,600 square kilometer exclusion zone, the facility visited by Reuters on Wednesday is now shrouded in an eerie calm.
The National Guard patrols the facility, where about 2,250 employees work days-long shifts and oversee the gradual decommissioning of the facility. The last reactor of the facility was shut down in 2000.
The control room of the fourth reactor is now a dark space filled with shattered and rusted equipment from the Soviet era.
