Russia’s War and Ukraine’s Nuclear Reactors

By Rabbi Yonatan Neril

Nuclear reactors. The Chernobyl Zone. Ammonia tanks. Missiles. These are some of the toxic ingredients in the escalating conflict that Russia is bringing to Ukraine. Russia is not just playing with fire. Its military is now shooting ballistic and cruise missiles in a country with nuclear reactors, pipelines of ammonia, and swaths of radioactive land. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is likely the first war in history where the theater of war is interspersed with nuclear reactors.

Ukraine has fifteen active nuclear reactors, which provide over half of its electricity. As Russia invades more of Ukraine, fighting could take place near some of these reactors. This should concern all of Europe—there do not need to be nuclear weapons used for this war to go nuclear. An errant or intentional mortar hitting a nuclear reactor in an armed conflict in Ukraine is a possibility, and the fallout will not stop at any geopolitical border.

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