Paris (France) (AFP) – Donors pledged at a conference in Paris just over half of the 500 million euros needed to repair the arch of the sarcophagus of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, damaged last year by a Russian drone.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 1:36 p.m.

“The total of confirmed commitments now stands at 278 million euros, from 15 contributors,” declared Benjamin Haddad, the French Minister Delegate for Europe, in a closing speech.

“By mobilizing international financing, we are also helping Ukraine to avoid having to bear the financial consequences of Russian aggression alone, at a time when it needs all available resources to defend its population, maintain its essential infrastructure and rebuild the country,” he added at the end of this conference.

According to him, “other contributions could still be added today”.

France, which chairs the G7 group of countries this year, indicated in March that the cost of the restoration was "around 500 million euros" and until then, the amount of commitments made was 260 million euros.

The Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which exploded in April 1986, was covered in 2016 with a metal containment arch, enveloping the first concrete sarcophagus constructed urgently in 1986.

But this structure was punctured by a Russian drone in February 2025, requiring repair work.

“The scale and complexity” of the damage caused by the Russian attack “make its complete restoration both urgent and demanding,” the French government stressed in its invitation to the conference.

Real risk

Donors still have a few months to achieve this objective, assured French Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure. “We need to raise this amount by next spring,” he said before opening the conference.

“We must continue the work, we must expand the circle of donors, and that is why we are meeting” today.

According to Roland Lescure, France has committed 40 million euros, including 10 million for preliminary studies, which according to him represents "a significant part" of the collective effort.

The United States announced at the end of April that it would release “up to $100 million” and called on its G7 partners to follow suit.

“Without repair work, the structure can no longer provide sufficient protection, which poses the threat of a dangerous leak of highly radioactive materials in Europe,” the US State Department warned in the spring.

The conference, co-organized by the Ukrainian government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was intended to "present the latest technical assessments and the proposed restoration strategy, as well as take stock of existing international commitments, with a view to obtaining new pledges of substantial contributions in favor of the restoration program", according to Paris.

“This is international support for nuclear safety which concerns us all,” said Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the EBRD.

“If the new safety containment is not repaired, the risk of a very serious accident, with very widespread consequences – comparable to what happened in 1986 – is entirely real,” she estimated.

Present at the meeting in Paris, Anatolii Kutsevol, Ukraine's Deputy Energy Minister, said he was "very grateful that today we share the same understanding of the urgency linked to the containment of Chernobyl".

“I am convinced that we will be able to raise the 500 million euros necessary – at least – to repair the new containment,” he estimated.

© 2026 AFP

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