Zelensky criticises 'vile' Chornobyl drone strike ahead of London talks

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will host Volodymyr Zelensky in Downing Street later on Sunday, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, for talks on European support for Ukraine.

Ahead of the meeting, Kyiv officials said a Russian drone had hit a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near the Chornobyl nuclear plant in the north of Ukraine.

They said a fire was put out and there were no injuries, with officials adding that radiation levels remained stable. Zelensky labelled it a deliberate and "vile Russian strike".

Separately, at least three people were killed in a Russian strike in a village outside Zaporizhzhia in the south-east of the country, authorities said.

Zaporizhzhia has come under relentless Russian attacks recently, with at least two people killed there on Saturday.

The Russian strike on Chornobyl "partially destroyed" a spent nuclear fuel storage building, according to Ukraine's state-owned nuclear operator, Enerhoatom.

The operator said there were no injuries, and a fire in the building was put out, adding that radiation remained at a normal level.

The body also criticised Moscow for what it called a deliberate threat to nuclear safety, in words echoed by Zelensky.

"Russia deliberately struck this particular nuclear infrastructure facility," Zelensky said in a post on X, describing the building as an "as extremely critical infrastructure facility" and the attack as "vile".

He went on to detail Russian overnight strikes in 13 regions, adding that Moscow had launched 88 missiles, more than 3,250 drones and 1,800 guided bombs over the past week.

On Saturday, Ukraine targeted St Petersburg and the surrounding area as the city hosted the final day of a major economic forum, in a drone attack described as "unprecedented" by Russian authorities.

Days earlier, Kyiv had attacked the outskirts of the same city - some 1,000km (620 miles) from Ukraine - as Russian President Vladimir Putin's flagship forum was getting started, sending a large plume of black smoke over the city's skyline.

In the four years since Moscow's invasion began, Ukraine has developed its defence sector, with Kyiv now able to regularly hit targets within Russia.

The three Western powers represented at Downing Street - the so-called E3 group - are some of Kyiv's strongest allies. The UK and France lead the "coalition of the willing" initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a future potential peace process.

The group had previously convened in London in December, at a time when the US was pushing hard for Moscow and Kyiv to sign up quickly to a plan to end the war in Ukraine.

Since then US efforts to mediate a truce have petered out, and Washington's focus has shifted to the Iran war.

On Friday, Putin rejected a proposal by Zelensky for face-to-face talks on ending the war, saying he did not see any point in meeting the Ukrainian leader.

Zelensky sent an open letter calling for a direct negotiations, writing that it would be "wrong to simply wait" for the conflict to once again become the focus of US attention.

Speaking at the economic forum on Friday, Putin refused the request for a meeting with Zelensky and reiterated his position that a truce would only allow Ukraine to regroup.

He said he would only end the war when Russia's goals had been met.