The Ukraine's Chornobyl nuclear plant has been haunted by war for 40 years following the disaster.

D'enys Khomenko shows no emotion when he recalls the night of last year,?when a Russian drone ripped into the protective arc surrounding the area of the Chornobyl Nuclear Plant that experienced the world's worst nuclear disaster. This narrowly avoided another tragedy.

He said that maintaining composure was crucial to keeping the "stricken" plant powered and protected 40 years later as it slowly decommissioned.

"Emotions can get in the path of logic. You need to be calm," said the deputy director of technical operations during a visit to the plant, which is located in a wooded zone 100 km north of Kyiv.

Since then, workers have patched the hole using a large panel that is dwarfed by a 256-metre wide steel structure covering the damaged reactor 4. Further repairs are required in an environment that is still too dangerous to linger.

DANGEROUS DAMAGES FROM DRONE

Radiation levels are close to normal in large areas of the exclusion area, but there are still some highly contaminated areas, especially around the destroyed nuclear reactor.

Khomenko noted that repairs would require a large number such workers who were not always available.

The facility is still at risk four years after the war began, which has seen regular Russian airstrikes on Ukraine's infrastructure. Wild moose are seen roaming the road leading to the facility and in Prypiat which is a nearby abandoned town that has been left to nature.

Ukraine, as a result of the drone strike, will be marking the 40th anniversary on Sunday. They'll need to reshield tons of radioactive debris inside reactor 4, which exploded in April 1986 and emitted radioactive clouds throughout much of Europe.

Khomenko is one of around 2,250 workers who remain at the facility. The facility was briefly occupied in the early weeks of the invasion 2022, delaying plans to remove the reactor.

The drone strike on February 14, 2025 sparked an intense fire that lasted for weeks, damaging the membrane that sealed the steel and concrete structure built by Soviet authorities over the reactor in 1986.

Experts claim that the two billion euro structure, built in 2016, was designed to last for 100 years and must be repaired to prevent permanent damage.

"The risk of corrosion and the structural undermining creates a danger in terms of nuclear security," Odile Renaud Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said.

The bank wants to raise funding for repairs that it estimates will be at least 500 millions euros.

CHORNOBYL PLANT LYES NEAR RUSSIAN FLYING PATH

The original sarcophagus, which is gray and rusted, remains in the arc. The control room at reactor four is dark and filled with old Soviet equipment.

Russia has denied any involvement in the attack. According to Ukraine's security services, it involved a Shahed Drone - an?weapon Ukrainian Forces do not use. Moscow claimed that Kyiv attacked its own facility to obtain more weapons and cash from the West.

Ukraine's top prosecutor said this week that Russia had repeatedly sent missiles and drones near the facility. Ruslan Kravchenko stated that radars detected at least 90 Russian drones flying within a 5-km (3-miles) radius of shields since June 2024.

Khomenko, deputy director of technical operations at the facility, stated that other parts were also vulnerable. For example, a nuclear fuel storage site near the reactor number four.

He said that the vehicle was not built to withstand an impact from aerial vehicles or planes.

National Guardsmen are patrolling the plant. It is now harder for workers to get to, who often spend up to 13 days on duty there, as the route through Belarus, a country that has close ties with Russia, was cut. (Additional reporting from Daniel Flynn, Editing by PhilippaFletcher).

(source: Reuters)