The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law On amendments to the National Program for the decommissioning of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the transformation of the 'Shelter' into an environmentally safe system, which provides, in particular, for the repair of the safe confinement structures following a Russian drone attack.
According to the Ukrainian parliament's website, the bill was registered on Friday under No. 15513 and has already been submitted to the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada for consideration. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky is listed as the initiator of the bill. The text of the document and its explanatory note have not yet been published.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers' representative in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk who posted on his Telegram channel, the bill provides for extending the current program's implementation period until 2036, while specifying the necessary funding amounts and sources.
It also provides for "the establishment of additional tasks and measures to address the damage to the structures of the new safe confinement arch caused by a direct hit from a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle."
As previously reported, in April 2026, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko told Reuters in an interview that the attack by a Russian drone on the containment structure of the Chornobyl NPP's Unit 4 in 2025 was likely intentional, as evidenced by expert analyses of the circumstances surrounding the enemy drone's strike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said approximately EUR 500 million is needed for a major overhaul of the Chornobyl NPP sarcophagus, which was damaged as a result of the Russian UAV attack.
In late April of this year, the United States announced the allocation of $100 million for the repair of Chornobyl NPP containment structure. In addition, during the International Chornobyl Conference on Recovery and Nuclear Safety, an agreement was signed with the EBRD for EUR 30 million for the first phase of the containment restoration, and partners made initial commitments totaling nearly EUR 100 million.
In June 2026, Norway announced an additional contribution of NOK 100 million (about $10 million) for the restoration of the New Safe Confinement at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was damaged as a result of a Russian drone attack.
Previously, in 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the national program for decommissioning Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and transforming the Shelter facility into an environmentally safe system. In 2015, work began on the final closure and conservation phase, which at that time was scheduled to be completed in 2028.
