Ukraine conflict must avoid the nuclear option

Nearly 28 years ago, the Chernobyl disaster struck Ukraine. With the prospect of a Russian invasion looming, all sides should beware of atomic warfare, says Bennett Ramberg

Twenty-eight years after its Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded, Ukraine confronts a nuclear spectre of a different kind: The possibility that the country’s reactors could become military targets in the event of a Russian invasion.

Speaking at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague last month, Andrii Deshchytsia, Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, cited the “potential threat to many nuclear facilities” should events deteriorate into open warfare.