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According to Ukrainian officials, the Russian military has already seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak Thursday, the “totally pointless attack” aggregated to “one of the most serious threats in Europe today.”
In 1986, an explosion at Chernobyl resulted in the worst nuclear catastrophe in history, both in cost and casualty. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has cautioned that history might repeat if Russia pushes through the invasion.
Zelensky wrote on Twitter: “Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated.” But he added, “This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”
Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine has alerted a potential “ecological disaster” at the site.
The “exclusion zone” of Chernobyl (a 32 km [19 miles] radius around the plant) continues to be empty of any residence 36 years following a major explosion at the plant caused by a faulty reactor. By 2000, the plant’s three other reactors ceased operation and have since been inactivated.
Since the 1986 leak, the radiation levels in the area have continued to be seriously high. In 2019, the incident was documented in a famed HBO mini-series that led to the site being a tourist attraction.
According to reports, Russian soldiers entered the area earlier on Thursday before proceeding into Ukraine. Moreover, the White House has revealed that Russian troops held staff members hostage at the site. The forces are among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in their bordering country.
Chernobyl is situated approximately 130 km (80 miles) north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and could offer a passage for invading forces into the city.
A security member at the Truman National Security Project, Samantha Turner, states dominance over the area does not have “battle-determining significance,” however, it provides Russian troops a path to the Dnipro River.
The river extends north into Belarus, whose commander-in-chief has been closely associated with Putin, and south to Kyiv.
Turner said, “It’s an important part of them opening up different corridors for troop movement and controlling key terrain.”
