A DRONE armed with a warhead hit the outer protective shell of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant early today, damaging the structure and briefly starting a fire, in an attack Kiev blamed on Russia. The Kremlin denied it was responsible.

Radiation levels at the shuttered plant in the Kiev region, site of the world's worst nuclear accident, have not increased, according to the UN. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the strike did not breach the plant’s inner containment shell.

The IAEA did not attribute blame, saying only that its team stationed at the site heard an explosion and was informed that a drone had struck the shell.