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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Ukrainian army has turned the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone into a fortified frontier and is preparing for a possible renewed Russian offensive from Belarus. This is reported by Glavkom, citing the German publication Der Spiegel.
At the start of the full-scale invasion, Vladimir Putin's forces occupied the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding area north of Kyiv for several weeks. Today this zone is under Ukrainian military control, which is preparing for a possible return of the enemy, the publication writes.
According to Der Spiegel, throughout the exclusion zone the military are preparing for any surprises. Among the main elements of defense:
checkpoint points that appear every few kilometers;
trenches and earthen berms piled up at road intersections from excavated sandy soil;
underground defense galleries under sandy hills – for walls and ceilings, builders use timber from surrounding pine forests;
anti-drone nets on tall metal poles along the roadside shoulders – a tactic already tested in Donbas, meant to entangle remotely piloted drones.
Belarus, located only at 15 km from the zone, has not yet entered the war. However, according to the authors of the material, if the situation changes, “Chernobyl will immediately find itself within reach of visually controlled drones.”
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned about the growing risk of the war spreading to the northern neighboring country. In June, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave Belarus an ultimatum to dismantle retransmission stations in the country’s southern regions, which Russians had used to target strikes at Ukraine. Minsk complied with the demand.
Der Spiegel also notes the damaged reactor of the fourth power unit: a hole in the metal shell, pierced by a Russian drone, which Ukrainians have patched, though the repair site remains visible due to a different metal shade. The protective structure over the reactor was brought down in 2016 year with a design life of 100 years, but in February 2025 a drone strike caused a long fire that destroyed the membrane inside the structure.
photo: IAEA / X
The state specialized enterprise “Chernobyl NPP” explained that after the strike the new safe confinement lost full hermeticity, though it continues to partially perform the function of ecological isolation for the destroyed fourth power unit. Independent experts warn that without urgent repairs the risk of a structural collapse will increase. In spring 2025, temporary repairs to the interior and exterior cladding were carried out at the station to prevent precipitation from entering the building. At the same time, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited the plant, assessing the structural integrity of the building and confirming that the facility, built with substantial international support, has sustained significant damage.
The cost of restoring full functionality of the arch, according to preliminary estimates, exceeds €500 million, and the work is planned to be completed by 2030. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha previously stated that international partners have begun naming concrete contribution amounts, and the project will be carried out jointly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
As a reminder, international partners have already allocated several tranches for the restoration of the damaged protective shelter—from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to the European Union grant of €75 million, while the total repair cost is estimated at €500 million.
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