Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces, Ukraine confirms
Global News
'This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today,' an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said of Russia taking control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces, confirmed Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, on Thursday.
“It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians,” he said.
“This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today,” Podolyak said.
The news came mere hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported Russian forces were trying to seize control of the site that once housed the Soviet-era power plant.
A disaster at the power plant in 1986 made thousands of square kilometres around the site uninhabitable. A shelter was constructed around the decommissioned plant to prevent nuclear leakage, and an additional 29-kilometre radius around the site is considered an “exclusion zone.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a widespread attack on Ukraine Thursday morning.