A wildfire spanning at least five square miles broke out inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Friday after two drones crashed near the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Firefighters are working to contain the blaze, and officials said radiation levels are currently within normal limits, according to multiple news reports.
The origin of the drones was unclear, but the French news agency AFP quoted Vyacheslav Chaus, governor of the neighboring Chernihiv region in Ukraine, as saying that Russian craft have been constantly hovering over the area and impeding the fire response. (Chaus also said the blaze was around 15 square miles, larger than other official reports.)
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Throughout the war in Ukraine, the nation has accused Russia of reckless attacks on its nuclear sites, including Chernobyl. A Russian drone strike in 2025 has left the massive protective steel dome over Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4 damaged for more than a year, although radiation levels have appeared normal. This was the reactor that exploded on April 26, 1986, and sent radioactive fallout across Europe.
The blast killed two engineers instantly, while dozens more workers at the plant became sick and died because of radiation exposure over the proceeding decades. Thousands of cases of cancer in people living near the plant have also been tied to radiation from the explosion. The United Nations estimates that, all told, thousands of people have died or will die as a result of the disaster.
The Chernobyl reactors are surrounded by a 1,000-square-mile exclusion zone. Concerns for wildfires there have risen after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, particularly because the area is filled with large amounts of dead trees and debris that can readily burn. Fires there can release the radioactive materials stored in plants and animals, potentially over large distances if a blaze grows large enough.
