French FM Visits Chornobyl, Pledges $11M for Post-Strike Restoration

On July 21, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot visited the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant to assess the damage inflicted by a Russian drone strike earlier this year. 

The Gaze reports this, referring to United24.

Barrot toured the site of Reactor 4, the epicenter of the 1986 nuclear disaster, which suffered structural damage in February when a Russian drone armed with explosives struck the protective sarcophagus encasing the reactor. 

Speaking later at a press briefing in Kyiv, the French minister described the attack as “a stark reminder of the risks posed by targeting nuclear facilities in wartime.”

“I went to Chornobyl to see with my own eyes the consequences of the drone strike that hit the shelter of the fourth reactor in February,” Barrot said. 

He announced that France would allocate $11 million to help restore and reinforce the damaged structure, while also calling on other international partners to step up their contributions.

“France stands side by side with Ukraine,” he stated. “We are increasing pressure on Russia through a new package of sanctions.”

The February 14 drone attack caused significant damage to the sarcophagus – a structure vital to containing the radioactive remnants of the 1986 disaster. 

While no radiation leak was reported, the strike raised alarms across Europe about the vulnerability of nuclear sites during wartime.

This is not the first time Russian military actions have endangered Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. Previous strikes on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant led to temporary blackouts, further fueling concerns over potential nuclear incidents in the war-torn region.

As The Gaze reported earlier, French FM Jean-Noël Barrot, during a joint briefing with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrij Sybiha in Kyiv, emphasized that peace talks should be based on a ceasefire, not on the subjugation of one side to the other.