A Russian Shahed drone has substantially damaged a building used to store spent nuclear fuel close to the disused Chornobyl nuclear power plant, in what Ukraine’s president described as a deliberate and “extremely vile” attack.

While the structure – the reception building of the spent fuel storage facility – was empty of containers at the time, the targeting of the sensitive site appeared to be direct messaging from Moscow amid an intensifying battle of long-range aerial strikes in which high-profile locations on both sides have been hit.

“As of now, there is no heightening of radiation safety limits. But there is clearly a heightening of Russia’s already sky-high arrogance,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the attack, which took place at about 2am. “It was [a] critical infrastructure facility. And an extremely vile Russian attack.”

Zelenskyy was due to meet Keir Starmer, the Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz on Sunday at a summit in London to discuss the continuing conflict.

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, posted on X: “This is not the first time Russian forces are putting Ukrainian nuclear facilities at risk. Russia’s nuclear blackmail and threats to nuclear safety are systemic, deliberate, and unacceptable.”

The spent fuel storage facility is located about 9 miles from the Chornobyl plant that in 1986 was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear accident.

A fire covering about 40 square metres broke out after Sunday’s strike and was extinguished. No personnel were injured. Energoatom, the state nuclear power operator, said radiation levels at the site remained within normal limits.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its experts were preparing to visit the site and that although the strike had caused significant damage, radiation levels at the site remained within established levels.

The centralised spent nuclear fuel storage facility is designed to provide long-term storage for spent nuclear fuel from Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.

On Saturday a long-range Ukrainian strike targeted the historic naval town of Kronstadt, near St Petersburg, as the city’s high-profile economic forum was winding up.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday its air defences had downed 500 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours, Interfax news agency reported.

The Kremlin has threatened to escalate systematic attacks on key sites including decision-making centres in Ukraine. Russia has not publicly commented on the attack on the Chornobyl facility.

In February 2025, a Russian attack drone damaged a containment arch over the Chornobyl reactor that was destroyed in the 1986 explosion and meltdown. Russia denied responsibility.

Energoatom said: “The strike on a nuclear infrastructure facility has once again shown the world the true face of the Kremlin regime, which deliberately poses threats to nuclear and radiation safety.”

Kyiv and Moscow have also traded accusations of attacking the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest.