Ukraine will receive €42.5 million ($45.7 million) from international partners to repair the protective arch over the Chornobyl nuclear plant's destroyed reactor, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk announced on June 26.

A Russian Shahed-type drone struck the New Safe Confinement over Chornobyl's destroyed 4th reactor on February 14.

The structure built to contain radioactive material was damaged, no serious radiation leaks were caused.

France pledged €10.6 million ($11.4 million), the United Kingdom committed €6.9 million ($7.4 million), and the European Commission contributed €25 million ($26.9 million) toward the repairs.

"This is further evidence that Ukraine does not face its challenges alone, but has reliable friends," Hrynchuk wrote on Facebook.

The funding was announced at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) headquarters in London during a meeting of the Chornobyl International Cooperation Account Assembly of Contributors – the governing body of the fund created to address Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant issues.

Ukraine has already surveyed the building's structure and completed preparatory work, Hrynchuk said. In March, €400,000 ($430,000) was allocated from the special fund for this purpose.

The assembly discussed plans for temporary repairs and further work to fully restore the arch's integrity and functionality.

Chornobyl was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, contaminating areas across Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

After an protective structure was built over the destroyed reactor to contain radioactive material in the months following the disaster, the current arch, an international project built as a more permanent solution, was completed in 2017.

Chornobyl isn’t safe anymore... again

Chornobyl disaster occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986, in Soviet Ukraine. Nearly 39 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Russia’s brazen attack on the $2 billion New Safe Confinement (the sarcophagus enclosing the destroyed reactor) in February 2025 poses a new potential radioactive danger as engineers race to repair the damage. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post dives into why the restoration is not as simple as it may seem.

The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post

Ukraine has carried out another stage of the large-scale prisoner exchange in accordance with the Istanbul agreements. Defenders who have returned to their homeland are those under the age of 25, as well as wounded and seriously ill soldiers who had spent years in Russian captivity, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reports. 

Among those freed are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including personnel from the Navy, Ground Forces, Air Assault Forces, Territorial Defense Forces, National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service.

“The youngest defender is 24 years old. He was captured during the defense of Mariupol in April 2022, at the age of 21,” say Ukrainian authorities. 

Many of those returned had been taken prisoner during the fierce battles for Mariupol. One of the freed is a National Guardsman who was guarding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

“The oldest defender returned to Ukraine is 62 years old,” the Coordination HQ writes. 

Some of the soldiers are officers. They defended Ukraine on the hottest frontlines: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson, Kyiv, and Sumy directions.

“The defenders released from captivity will undergo the necessary medical examination, receive support for physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as all due payments for the entire period of their imprisonment,” reveals the agency. 

The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War is already preparing the next exchange.