The Russian forces have entered Chernobyl in a bid to seize the nuclear plant, with reports of intense fighting with Ukrainian forces that may have destroyed waste storage facility. According to reports, Russian forces moved into the Chernobyl exclusion zone, 60 miles north of Kiev, to take control of the nuclear facility, with fighting still on.
This comes amid fears that the conflict would damage nuclear waste storage facilities, resulting in a fallout that could blanket whole of Europe. Chernobyl is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirming the news of the attack has said a disaster might happen any time.
Europe Under Threat
According to a Ukrainian interior ministry advisor, Russian forces have infiltrated Chernobyl and fighting may have destroyed a nuclear waste storage facility. According to NBC, fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the country's north may have caused the damage. However, these reports have yet to be officially verified.
"Advisor to Ukrainian interior ministry says Russian forces entered Chernobyl and that fighting there destroyed a nuclear waste storage facility," NBC's Richard Engel tweeted this afternoon.
This was initially reported, but was later clarified due to a mistranslation. "Clarifying: advisor says heaving fighting MAY disturb nuclear waste," he added shortly after that.
The Russian forces invaded the restricted zone just before 3 p.m., according to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the minister of interior affairs, and were "vigorously" fighting with border guards units. "If storage facilities are destroyed, the radioactive cloud could cover Ukraine, Belarus and the EU," he said.
The news comes just a day after a Ukrainian nuclear safety expert cautioned about the dangers that nuclear power stations and waste storage sites around the country could pose if they were caught in crossfire.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian cities have been subject to massive air raids from Russia, with a large number of casualties being reported form different cities.
Bloodbath in Ukraine
However, tensions surrounding Chernobyl have been rising across Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also warned the about the outcome of a nuclear disaster if any of the waste storage facilities get damaged as a result of the fighting.
"Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the #Chornobyl_NPP," he tweeted. "Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated....
"This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe."
It was in Chernobyl that a nuclear power reactor melted down in 1986 during the Soviet Union era. Large parts of Chernobyl were closed to the public for decades after that.
There have also been reports of one of Turkey's ships being damaged by a "bomb" near the coast of Odessa, where fighting is also going place. Turkey is a NATO member, amid concerns that the turmoil in Ukraine could swiftly spread to other countries, resulting in a full-fledged European War.
Battles were still going on Thursday afternoon in Kiev, along the northern border with Belarus, in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and near Kherson, the Dneiper River, and the southern port cities of Odessa and Mariupol. Heavy damages to lives and property have been reported, although there are no exact figures.
As of early afternoon, there were almost no estimates of the number of people killed or injured. "Hundreds," according to one Ukrainian official, were slain in the early combat, while another estimated the death toll at 40 Ukrainians and 50 Russians.
