Russian Drone Strikes Chornobyl Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility as SBU Opens War Crime Investigation

A Russian Geran-2 drone struck the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone at 2:05 a.m. on June 7, damaging the container reception and reloading building and the co-located IAEA administrative building, according to the SBU 1. Energoatom reported a 40-square-meter fire that emergency crews extinguished, no personnel casualties, and radiation levels within normal limits; the SBU confirmed no spent fuel was present in the struck structure at the time of the attack 123. The SBU opened criminal proceedings under Article 438 of Ukraine's Criminal Code classifying the strike a war crime and recovered Geran-2 drone fragments at the impact site 1. IAEA Director General Grossi called the incident "deeply concerning," noting nuclear material was stored "just meters away" from the attacked building, and said an assessment team would visit the facility 4.