‘Staged-Managed Nuclear Blackmail’: Russia Slams Zelenskyy For Claiming Drone Struck Chernobyl Plant

Last Updated:February 14, 2025, 20:28 IST

Russia dismissed Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's claim that a Russian drone struck the Chernobyl plant as a staged provocation to secure more Western aid.

A rescuer measures radiation level next to the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure, that covers the old sarcophagus which confines the remains of the damaged fourth reactor, after it was allegedly hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

Russia said on Friday that an accusation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that a Russian drone had struck the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was a staged “provocation" by Kyiv to blackmail the West into giving it more aid.

Zelenskyy said on Friday that a Russian drone had caused significant damage to the radiation containment shelter at the plant, but that radiation levels remained normal after the incident, which came as top US, Ukrainian and European officials gathered at the Munich Security Conference to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, accused Zelenskyy of orchestrating the alleged drone attack to coincide with the Munich event as part of a lobbying effort to secure more weapons and money from the West.

“There was never any doubt that Zelenskyy would not come to the Munich conference empty-handed… The hands of the Kyiv regime must always be busy with some children’s rattles to distract the attention of the conference participants. Zelenskyy travels with performances that are backed up by provocations," Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow.

“Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that this is a provocation? There can be no doubt. A performance was needed to lobby for arms deliveries and convince the world public. A scary, bloody and very dangerous performance," she said, accusing Kyiv of using nuclear plants for “blackmail."

Moscow, Russia

News world ‘Staged-Managed Nuclear Blackmail’: Russia Slams Zelenskyy For Claiming Drone Struck Chernobyl Plant