Drone Damages Ukraine's Chern 02/14 07:11

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A drone armed with a warhead hit the outer protective 
shell of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, damaging the structure 
and briefly starting a fire, in an attack Kyiv blamed on Russia. The Kremlin 
denied it was responsible.

   Radiation levels at the shuttered plant in the Kyiv region -- site of the 
world's worst nuclear accident -- have not increased, according to the U.N. 
International Atomic Energy Agency, which said the strike did not breach the 
plant's inner containment shell.

   The IAEA did not attribute blame, saying only that its team stationed at the 
site heard an explosion and was informed that a drone had struck the shell.

   Fighting around nuclear power plants has repeatedly raised fears of a 
nuclear catastrophe during three years of war, particularly in a country where 
many vividly remember living through the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed 
at least 30 people and spewed radioactive fallout over much of the Northern 
Hemisphere.

   The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is Europe's biggest, has 
occasionally been hit by drones during the war without causing significant 
damage.

   The strike came two days after President Donald Trump upended U.S. policy on 
Ukraine, saying he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss 
ending the war. The move seemed to identify Putin as the only player that 
matters and looked set to sideline Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as 
well as European governments, in any peace talks.

   That comes at a time when Ukraine is being slowly pushed backward by 
Russia's bigger army along parts of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line 
and desperately needs more Western help.

   The Chernobyl strike occurred in the early hours of Friday, according to the 
IAEA.

   Zelenskyy said a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the plant's 
outer shell and started a fire, which has been put out. The shell was built in 
2016 over another heavy concrete containment structure, which was placed on the 
plant's fourth reactor soon after the 1986 disaster. Both shells seek to 
prevent radiation leaks.

   The Ukrainian Emergency Service provided a photograph that showed a hole 
punched in the roof of the outer shell.

   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia was responsible. "There is no 
talk about strikes on nuclear infrastructure, nuclear energy facilities. Any 
such claim isn't true, our military doesn't do that," Peskov said in a 
conference call with reporters.

   It was not possible to independently confirm who was behind the strike. Both 
sides frequently trade blame when nuclear sites come under attack.

   Peskov alleged the Ukrainian claim was aimed at thwarting efforts to end the 
war through negotiations between Trump and Putin.

   "It's obvious that there are those (in the Ukrainian government) who will 
continue to oppose any attempts to launch a negotiation process, and it's 
obvious that those people will do everything to try to derail this process," 
Peskov said.

   Ukraine plans to provide detailed information to U.S. officials about the 
Chernobyl strike during the Munich Security Conference starting Friday, the 
head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, wrote on his Telegram 
channel.

   IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on social platform X that the Chernobyl strike 
and the recent increase in military activity near Zaporizhzhia "underline 
persistent nuclear safety risks," adding that the IAEA remains "on high alert."

   The IAEA said its personnel at the site responded within minutes of the 
strike, adding there were no casualties.

   "Radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable," the IAEA 
said on X.

   Zelenskyy claimed on Telegram that the Chernobyl strike showed that "Putin 
is certainly not preparing for negotiations" -- a claim Ukrainian officials 
have repeatedly made.

   "The only state in the world that can attack such facilities, occupy the 
territory of nuclear power plants, and conduct hostilities without any regard 
for the consequences is today's Russia. And this is a terrorist threat to the 
entire world," he wrote.

   "Russia must be held accountable for what it is doing," he added.