Chernobyl at 40: Zelenski Warns of ‘Nuclear Terrorism’ as Damaged Shelter Rekindles Safety Fears

Overview

• Marking the 40th anniversary on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenski accused Russia of nuclear terrorism and urged global action to stop attacks that could trigger a new disaster.
• A Greenpeace report published in April says a Russian drone pierced the New Safe Confinement in February 2025, leaving the outer shelter unable to work as designed and raising the risk of radioactive leaks.
• Plant officials and Greenpeace expect repairs to take three to four years, which would extend the period the damaged structure must keep radiation in check.
• Russian forces seized the site on the first day of the 2022 invasion and pulled out about a month later, a short occupation that highlighted nuclear risks tied to the ongoing war.
• The 1986 explosion came from an unstable RBMK reactor run at low power with safety systems switched off, where graphite-tipped control rods and poor containment led to blasts and a 30 km exclusion zone that the IAEA says will remain unsafe for about 24,000 years.