Chernobyl nuclear power plant lost all power after Russian attack, says IAEA

Several Ukrainian electrical substations vital for nuclear safety were affected by widespread military activity this morning, Director General @rafaelmgrossi said.

ChNPP lost all off-site power and power lines to other NPPs were also impacted.

“The IAEA is actively following… pic.twitter.com/LR5eWmLODj

— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) January 20, 2026

According to Ukraine’s Energy Ministry, overnight Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure nodes supplying facilities in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

The Ministry also added that power to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has since been restored from Ukraine’s national grid. Officials said there is currently no direct threat to the population or the environment.

Located in northern Ukraine, in Kyiv Oblast, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in April 1986 when one of the reactors malfunctioned, releasing huge amounts of radioactive material across Europe.

Chernobyl, which became a part of Ukraine following the collapse of the USSR, was briefly occupied by the Russian Forces in 2022, in the initial days of the Special Military Operation.

This is not the first time during the ongoing war that Russia has targeted Chernobyl. In February 2025, Chernobyl NPP was hit by an alleged Russian drone strike.

In December, the IAEA had said that Chernobyl’s New Safe Confinement was damaged by the drone strike, causing fires and requiring emergency repairs.

According to the IAEA, NSC was severely damaged and lost its primary safety functions, including the confinement capability.

The NSC at Chernobyl was built in 2019 to replace the reactor destroyed in the plant’s 1986 meltdown, which resulted in the worst nuclear disaster the world has seen so far.