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Chernobyl radiation shield has stopped working after Russian drone strikes, UN warns

A structure designed to prevent radioactive leakage at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine is no longer operational after Russian drones targeted it earlier this year, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has found.

The so-called new safe confinement was built as part of a €1.5 billion Europe-led initiative in 2019 to replace the reactor destroyed in the plant’s 1986 meltdown, in which over 30 people died.

But the large steel structure “lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability” after a Russian drone strike in February and set its outer cladding ablaze, according to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Beyond that, there was “no permanent damage to its load-bearing structures or monitoring systems,” it said.

“Limited temporary repairs have been carried out on the roof, but timely and comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is set to provide additional funding for repairs next year.

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Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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