At least 16 people have been killed in strikes over the weekend across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia, local authorities said, as the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster prompted fresh warnings about the risks posed by attacks near the plant during Russia’s more than four-year invasion of its neighbour.
The death toll from Russian drone and missile strikes on the city of Dnipro rose to nine, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said Sunday. One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move most of the world considers illegal, and has used it as a staging and supply point during the war.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village, after reporting two people were killed on Saturday. The latest strikes came after a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod border region, according to local authorities.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine’s General Staff said Sunday. The strikes sparked fires at the facility, which processes 15 million tons of oil a year and produces fuel for the Russian military. Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones, which can reach targets some 1,500 kilometres inside Russia, and has used them recently against Russian oil facilities.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to warn that Russian attacks risk repeating history. “Through its war, Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster — Russian-Iranian Shaheds regularly fly over the plant, and one of them struck the confinement last year,” he wrote on Facebook.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, echoed those concerns during a visit to Kyiv, saying repairs to the plant’s damaged outer protective shell must begin immediately. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repairs would require at least 500 million euros ($586 million). Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone struck the outer shell of the plant’s New Safe Confinement structure in February 2025. Moscow denied targeting the plant, alleging Kyiv staged the attack.
