‘A global threat’: Zelensky hits out at Russia and issues stark warning after Chernobyl nuclear plant loses power… and is now running on generators

Ukraine’s President has accused Russia of posing a threat to global security after Kyiv said a shelling attack cut electricity to the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Volodymyr Zelensky warned of the danger after part of the site, which must be powered up to stop further spread of radioactive materials, was forced to run on two diesel generators.

The president said on Wednesday: ‘Every day that Russia prolongs the war, refuses to implement a full and reliable ceasefire, and continues striking all objects of our energy infrastructure – including those critical to the safety of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities – is a global threat.’ 

The UN’s atomic energy watchdog said the blackout affected the confinement structure housing the plant’s damaged reactor core, and that emergency generators were now supplying it with electricity. 

Chernobyl was partially destroyed in a 1986 nuclear meltdown that spread radioactive material into the surrounding area.

More than 160,000 residents of the town and surrounding areas had to be evacuated and have been unable to return, leaving the former Soviet site as a radioactive ghost town.

The incident on Wednesday comes eight days after the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine also lost power – an ongoing situation that Ukraine calls ‘critical’ but that Russia says is ‘under control’. 

Both incidents have heightened concerns about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear sites, which have suffered repeated attacks since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia posed a threat to global security following a power-cut in Chernobyl 

Zelensky added that Wednesday’s power cut affected the New Safe Confinement, which he said ‘protects the environment from remnants of reactor four after the 1986 explosion, as well as from radioactive debris and dust’. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the plant had lost connection to a substation in the town of Slavutych, without elaborating.

‘The site swiftly switched to alternate lines and power was restored, except for the New Safe Confinement (NSC), which covers the old sarcophagus built after the 1986 Chernobyl accident,’ the United Nations agency said.

‘Two emergency diesel generators are now supplying the NSC with electricity.’

The New Safe Confinement, completed in 2016, is a large shield-like structure that surrounds the unit four reactor designed to prevent the release of radioactive material.

A Russian drone attack damaged the confinement structure in February, but did not result in increased radiation in the surrounding area, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has meanwhile been disconnected from the power grid since last Tuesday.

Both Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for causing that blackout.

The plant’s six reactors, which before the war produced around a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity, were shut down after Moscow took over.

Apartment building damaged by Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 29, 2025

State Emergency Service workers clean up debris at Barabashovo market after Russian aerial attack on October 1, 2025 in Kharkiv, Ukraine

A man touches a photograph of his deceased comrade on the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine, a memorial dedicated to Ukrainian soldiers, on Defender’s Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, on October 1, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

But the site needs power to maintain the cooling and other safety systems that prevent the reactors from melting down and releasing radiation into the atmosphere.

Zelensky said Tuesday the situation there was ‘critical’ and that one of the backup diesel generators had ‘malfunctioned’.

Since the start of the war, Zaporizhzhia has seen multiple safety threats, including frequent nearby shelling, repeated power cuts and staff shortages.

The site sits near the city of Energodar on the Dnieper river, the de facto front line in southern Ukraine.

It comes after at least 65 drones targeted the country overnight on Tuesday, the latest in daily barrages launched by Moscow, with most of the projectiles shot down by air defences, according to Ukrainian officials.

A separate attack on the city of Dnipro on Tuesday killed one person and wounded 15, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said.

Zelensky slammed the strike as ‘a brazen attack in broad daylight, targeting civilian infrastructure’.

‘Such strikes also demonstrate that the world’s sanctions on Russia must hit the aggressor much harder,’ he said on X.

Overnight on Tuesday, Russian drones also hit energy infrastructure in the northern Chernigiv region, cutting electricity to over 26,000 homes, the head of the military administration said.

Kyiv has increasingly responded to Moscow’s aerial attacks, by carrying out assaults on Russian logistics and refineries.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had ‘intercepted and destroyed’ 81 Ukrainian drones overnight with no reported damage.

The deadly strikes came as Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s largest autumn military conscription since 2016 as he continues his assault on Ukraine.

The Kremlin despot wants 135,000 men between 18 and 30 years old to join the country’s military service in a significantly bulked-up version of its seasonal recruitment drive.

Russia calls up young males for compulsory service each spring and autumn, which typically sees them serve for a year at a military base within the country.

Though there have been reports of conscripts being instantly put on the frontline, there is no guarantee that the latest recruits will be sent straight to war.

However, it is believed the Kremlin is feeling increased pressure to maintain an offensive after the death and injury toll for Russian soldiers well surpassed one million.

In a decree issued on Monday, Putin ordered ‘the conscription of 135,000 citizens of the Russian Federation from October 1 to December 31, 2025’.