New military activity reported near Ukrainian nuclear power plants, IAEA says
Photo: Military activity again recorded near Ukrainian nuclear power plants (Getty Images)
Explosions, drone flights, and air raid signals have continued for weeks near Ukrainian nuclear power plants, including the Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.
At the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the IAEA team heard distant explosions daily over the past week, indicating potential danger.
This week, IAEA experts conducted walkthroughs of the Zaporizhzhia NPP site to observe ongoing activities, visiting all Emergency Control Rooms of the six reactors, the safety systems of Unit 4, and two fresh fuel storage facilities.
At the South Ukraine NPP, the IAEA group reported numerous air raid alarms throughout the past week. On the night of April 25, six drones were detected 1.5 km from the plant. The report notes that the monitoring group recorded sounds of military activity, likely the work of air defense systems.
At the Khmelnytskyi NPP, the IAEA team had to take shelter on the morning of April 30 due to an air raid alert.
Strike on Chornobyl NPP sarcophagus
On the night of February 14, 2025, the Russian army attacked the shelter over the 4th power unit of the Chornobyl NPP. Due to the strike, the new safe confinement was damaged, and a fire broke out.
It was confirmed that Russian troops launched a drone with a high-explosive warhead at the Chornobyl NPP. To eliminate the consequences of the enemy attack and maintain the damaged shelter in a safe condition, the Ukrainian government allocated over 1.5 billion hryvnias.
The latest IAEA report states that Ukrainian engineers and construction workers are still carrying out repairs on the damaged sarcophagus.
