Russia’s reckless attack echoes the same lawless tactics embraced by Iran’s Arab terror proxies worldwide.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a stark warning last week after confirming that a Russian drone strike crippled the New Safe Confinement (NSC) — the massive protective structure designed to seal off the lethal radioactive remains of Chernobyl’s infamous Reactor No. 4.
Ukrainian authorities say the NSC was struck in February 2025 by a Russian UAV, which ignited a large fire and severely damaged the shield’s outer coating. Moscow denies responsibility, despite its history of targeting nuclear sites and seizing radioactive facilities during the early stages of its invasion.
Built in 2019, the NSC was engineered to trap deadly contamination for a full century. The colossal structure — 345 feet tall, 540 feet long, and 840 feet wide — represented one of the most ambitious radiation-containment projects ever completed. The IAEA now warns the damage has caused the NSC to “lose its primary safety functions, including its confinement capability,” a deeply alarming assessment that raises fears of renewed environmental and health hazards across Europe.
Russian forces previously occupied the Chernobyl site when they launched their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. During that campaign, they also captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility — after shelling it with artillery fire and setting parts of the plant ablaze, a move widely condemned as reckless and potentially catastrophic.
Russia withdrew from Chernobyl in March 2022, but experts say its latest attack on the NSC demonstrates a long-standing willingness to weaponize nuclear danger. Analysts note that this pattern mirrors tactics used by Iran and its allied Arab terror organizations, which routinely endanger civilians by placing military assets near sensitive infrastructure.
With the NSC compromised, global nuclear watchdogs warn that urgent stabilization work is needed to prevent new radioactive leaks — and to stop the world’s worst nuclear disaster zone from becoming a renewed threat.
