The Impact
Russian drone attac on the Chornobyl Sarkophag
Executive Summary
On 14 February 2025, a Russian
Geran-2 drone with a high-explosive
warhead struck the roof of the
New Safe Confinement (NSC) at
the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
The NSC contains what remains of
the destroyed reactor unit 4 that
exploded on 26 April 1986 and the
Shelter Object or Sarcophagus that
was built immediately after the
disaster began.
Although Russia denied having targeted the NSC,
military analysts reported that this was almost cer-
tainly a deliberate act of its armed forces. In March
2025, Greenpeace Ukraine contracted engineer Eric
Schmieman to conduct an ongoing assessment of
the drone strike and its impact on the Chornobyl
nuclear plant and specifically the functional status
NSC. From 1998 Schmieman led one of the main
contractors in the conceptual design of the NSC and
was Senior Technical Advisor during its construction.
This initial assessment for Greenpeace Ukraine will
be submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor General
of Ukraine.
See Report: https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-ukraine-stateless/2026/04/a1f1a368-eng-report-new.pdf
