The widow of the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster was killed in a Russian drone strike on her apartment block.
Nataliia Khodemchuk was the wife of Valery Khodemchuk, a circulating-pump operator who died in the initial explosion at Reactor 4 in 1986.
Ukraine said that Ms Khodemchuk, 73, died after sustaining severe burns in her flat that was hit by an Iranian-designed Shahed drone. She died in hospital, becoming the seventh fatality from the barrage overnight on Friday.
Her apartment in the Troieshchyna district of Kyiv was situated in a housing block for former Chernobyl workers and their families.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, wrote on X: “Nearly four decades [after the disaster], Nataliia was killed in a new tragedy caused once again by the Kremlin.
“Ukrainians who survived Chornobyl, who helped rebuild the country after that disaster, are once again facing danger – the terror of an aggressor state.”
The home of Oleksiy Ananenko, a Chernobyl engineer who was one of three divers in the so-called “Suicide Squad” that went underneath the reactor to avert a second disaster, was also hit by the strike.
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**From The Telegraph:**
The widow of the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster was killed in a Russian drone strike on her apartment block.
Nataliia Khodemchuk was the wife of Valery Khodemchuk, a circulating-pump operator who died in the initial explosion at Reactor 4 in 1986.
Ukraine said that Ms Khodemchuk, 73, died after sustaining severe burns in her flat that was hit by an Iranian-designed Shahed drone. She died in hospital, becoming the seventh fatality from the barrage overnight on Friday.
Her apartment in the Troieshchyna district of Kyiv was situated in a housing block for former Chernobyl workers and their families.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, wrote on X: “Nearly four decades [after the disaster], Nataliia was killed in a new tragedy caused once again by the Kremlin.
“Ukrainians who survived Chornobyl, who helped rebuild the country after that disaster, are once again facing danger – the terror of an aggressor state.”
The home of Oleksiy Ananenko, a Chernobyl engineer who was one of three divers in the so-called “Suicide Squad” that went underneath the reactor to avert a second disaster, was also hit by the strike.
**Read more here:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/16/widow-of-first-chernobyl-victim-killed-by-russia-in-kyiv/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/16/widow-of-first-chernobyl-victim-killed-by-russia-in-kyiv/)
I know Russia has no threshold which will shame it enough to stop this, but surely even for them this is going too far
There is no limit to their barbarity.
For the world this was a whole other level of evil, for russia it was another day another drone.
All this evil because one man wants to reclaim a barbaric empire
Damn those russians and their double-tap strikes!
The only thing that Russia brings is death. Nothing more. Literally nothing more.
Fuckin’ bleak, man.
Let this serve as an example to those who believe that if you do good for Russia you will never get hurt.
What is the reward for doing this? Opening doors to hell for killing eldery, kids, pets, etc? For what?
Someone needs to send this to Trump’s office because he is still bullying South Africa about Farmer murder
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