On 40th Chernobyl disaster anniversary, Zelenskyy accuses Russia of committing 'nuclear terrorism'
Ukrainians gathered to honour those who died from the accident, as well as the hundreds of thousands who cleaned up after the disaster, exposing themselves to high levels of radiation.
Published on 26/04/2026 - 16:03 GMT+2
As Ukraine marks the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, its president Volodmyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of committing "nuclear terrorism" by regularly flying attack drones over the site.
Zelenskyy took to social media to mark the anniversary, and to say that through Russia's invasion of Ukraine it was, "again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster".
He noted that drones fly regularly over Chernobyl, with one even hitting its protective shell last year. "The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks," he added.
People gather to honour those killed
Meanwhile, people in the northern Ukrainian city of Slavutych gathered for a midnight commemoration on Saturday to honour those whose mission was to clean up after the disaster, as well as to remember all those killed in the accident.
People placed candles on a large radiation symbol to mark the anniversary.
Following the 1986 disaster, soldiers, firefighters, miners, medics and engineers, were summoned from across the Soviet Union. Over the course of four years, 600,000 people joined the cleanup, exposing themselves to high levels of radiation.
The worst civilian nuclear disaster in history
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant at 01:23 am on 26 April 1986 resulted in the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history.
It occured due to a human error during a safety test, which led to the explosion in reactor number four at the nuclear plant in northern Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. The explosion sent radioactive smoke into the atmosphere, and nuclear fuel burned for more than 10 days.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) determined the main cause of the disaster was "severe deficiencies in the design of the reactor and the shutdown system", combined with "violation" of operation procedures.
Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were quickly contaminated before the radioactive plume then spread across Europe. Sweden detected a spike in radiation two days after the accident.
Then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev did not publicly ackowledge the accident until 14 May.
A UN report from 2005 estimated that the number of deaths due to radiation exposure in the three worst affected countries stood at 4,000. A 2006 Greenpeace report put the number at nearly 100,000 deaths.
Strikes on Ukraine continue
Russian strikes on Ukraine have continued through the Chernobyl anniversary. At least three people were killed and four wounded in overnight attacks, as Moscow launched a barrage of 144 drones. 124 of them were downed, according to Ukrainian officials.
Two of them were killed in the frontline northeastern region of Sumy, the region's military administration said.
In Dnipro, one day after an aerial attack left at least eight people dead, one more person was killed and four were injured by drone and artillery attacks.
Video editor • Lucy Davalou
Additional sources • AP & AFP
