Forty years after the worst nuclear catastrophe in history, Chernobyl is back in the news - but not because of the anniversary. A Russian drone in February 2025 breached the hermetic seal over the destroyed reactor. No radiation leakage has been detected - for now. Repairs cost a minimum of 500 million euros.

Zelensky marked 40 years with an accusation: Russia is actively threatening Chernobyl. More than 92 drones have passed within 5 kilometres of the facility in the last ten months alone. Russian-Iranian Shahed drones regularly fly over the plant - this is Zelensky's statement, not media speculation.

The structure protecting Europe - the enormous steel and concrete dome built in 2016 with funds from over 40 countries - is damaged. Not critically, but damaged. There is no plan for repairs while Russian attacks continue. And without repairs, the original sarcophagus - rotting beneath the dome - is exposed.

In 1986, Soviet authorities lied about the catastrophe while the radioactive cloud spread across Europe. Today, in a war zone, the same facility is under pressure - only now with drones instead of lies. Could no leakage for now become there is leakage before anyone reacts? That is not a hypothetical question.