UK pledges £17 million for repairs to Chornobyl shelter, which it says a Russian drone damaged

The United Kingdom has announced £17 million towards repairs to the protective shelter over the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which the UK government says was damaged by a Russian drone strike last year. The announcement was published on 15 October on GOV.UK.

According to the UK statement, the money is part of an international programme coordinated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development together with the Government of Ukraine and G7 donors. The repairs are meant to restore the structure’s confinement and ventilation functions. The UK says that without them, corrosion could undermine years of international investment and create long-term environmental and safety risks.

The UK’s place among donors

The UK has contributed to the International Chornobyl Cooperation Account since it was founded in 2020. The government puts its total donations to the fund at €8 million, which it describes as the third-largest individual contribution after Norway and France.

Attacks on energy infrastructure

The announcement places the pledge against the background of continuing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. The UK statement cites more than 200 strikes on electricity infrastructure and 17 on oil and gas facilities between 5 and 11 October, and a ballistic missile attack involving 39 missiles that it says left 600,000 civilians without power. Geopolitiki reported on the latest Russian missile and drone attack on Ukrainian energy, including Ukrainian and UN accounts of the damage.

The same statement lists other UK support for Ukraine: £54 million in winter support announced the previous week, of which £20 million is for energy, almost £25 billion in total support, and more than 3,500 sanctions designations, over 3,300 of them since 2022. These are the UK government’s own figures.

The account of the drone strike on the shelter is the UK government’s; the release quotes no Russian statement.