The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) warns that the Chernobyl plant, its sarcophagus, and the surrounding areas may be affected by military clashes or operations, leading to a spread of radioactive pollution.
“This could have consequences in the immediate area,” the DSA warned.
Russian forces have captured the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, an adviser to the President of Ukraine told Reuters earlier on Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podoljak called the attack pointless and described it as one of the most serious threats in Europe today. The information has not been confirmed from another source.
He says he does not know the current status and condition of the Chernobyl plant.
“After the absolutely meaningless attack from the Russians in this direction, it is impossible to say that the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl is safe,” Podoljak said.
A message from Zelenskyj
An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister said earlier Thursday that Russian forces were near the former nuclear power plant, where the most serious nuclear accident in the world took place in 1986, Reuters reports.
“Our forces are sacrificing their lives to prevent a recurrence of the 1986 tragedy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wrote on Twitter earlier Thursday.
He called the attack a declaration of war on the whole of Europe. In the same message, Zelenskyj wrote that he reported the attack to Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Chernobyl is located about 130 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Background: Russian attack on Ukraine
In the middle of the night, around 4 AM Norwegian time, in an extraordinary television address, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was launching a military operation in Ukraine.
Putin announced the attack on Ukraine during an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council.
Ukraine has closed its airspace to civilian flights.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
It would be a safe bet that the Russians are trying to prevent the Ukrainian neo-Nazi ultra-nationalists … or some foreign intelligence agency … from blowing up the sarcophagus to cause a European if not world-wide nuclear contamination holocaust.
Any soldier or anyone in there at all may be at contamination risk themselves.