June 7 (UPI) — Ukraine said early Sunday that Russia struck areas near the Chernobyl nuclear facility, hitting a building that holds spent nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n
The Chernobyl strike is one of at least 13 Russian strikes in Ukraine last night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement posted to X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Early in Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which was part of the former Soviet Union, it briefly took control of the area around the former nuclear energy plant.<\/p>\n Chernobyl is considered the worst nuclear accident in human history after a fire in April 1986 led to an explosion<\/a> and meltdown at the power plant, killing dozens of people and sending a nuclear cloud hundreds of miles away.<\/p>\n The International Atomic Energy Agency said that the strike caused “significant damage” to the the plants fuel reception building and other nearby buildings, and will be sending a team to investigate the damage, The Hill<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n “Russia deliberately struck this particular nuclear infrastructure facility,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n “As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels,” he said. “But there is certainly an increase in Russia’s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts.”<\/p>\n Zelensky said that Ukrainian first responders put out fires at the facility as a result of what he called “an extremely vile Russian strike.”<\/p>\n