Russian forces take control of decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant: Know all about it

Anxiety grows as Russia's troops captured Chernobyl nuclear plant - a site where radioactive elements are still leaking since history’s worst nuclear disaster had happened around 36 years ago.

 According to the statement given by Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak to news agency Associated Press, Russian forces took control of the site after a fierce battle with Ukrainian national guards protecting the decommissioned plant. When asked about the condition of the plant’s facilities, a confinement shelter and a repository for nuclear waste, the presidential adviser said it was not immediately known after the Russian troops took over the plant's control.

However, an official familiar with the current development told AP that the Russian shelling hit a radioactive waste repository at Chernobyl. The official asserted that the shelling resulted in an increase in radiation levels - a claim that the news agency said it could not verify.

It is worth mentioning that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 2,600-square-kilometer zone of forest surrounding the shuttered plant, lies between the Belarus-Ukraine border and the Ukrainian capital. The experts called the location strategic for Russian troops to enter Ukraine conveniently.

Condemning the actions of Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Twitter on Wednesday and said that the Ukrainian officers fought so that the tragedy of 1986 is not repeated. He called it a “declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”

"Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the #Chornobyl_NPP. Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated. Reported this to @SwedishPM. This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe," tweeted Zelenskyy.

Meanwhile, Podolyak called the attack "absolutely senseless" and anticipated that the plant was not safe after the Russians took over. He warned that Russian authorities could blame Ukraine for damage to the site or stage provocations from there.

What happened on the ill-fated night?

On the night of April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl power plant exploded and caught fire, shattering the building and emitting radioactive material high into the sky.

According to the experts, it was the Soviet authorities that made the incident more catastrophic as they did not reveal the developments to the public. It said that the two million residents of Kyiv weren’t informed despite the fallout danger. It was only out in linelight after the radiation started affecting people. Before Russia took over the plant, the Ukrainian government was dismantling the destroyed reactor. It’s expected to take until 2064 to finish dismantling the reactors. 

With inputs from AP

IMAGE: AP