Ukraine has said that Russian forces are now militarizing the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and their attempts pose a new radiation threat. The accusations of militarization were made by Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Vereshchuk said that the exclusive zone around the station is being militarized by the Russian soldiers. The Russian forces have held the site since the first day of the invasion. Earlier, fears grew of a nuclear disaster as Russian troops had shelled near the Chernobyl nuclear site, which witnessed the world's worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.
Radiation Feared at Chernobyl
On Saturday, Russian forces took over the town of Slavutych, which was created and built in the aftermath of the 1986 accident. But early on Monday the mayor of the town Yuri Fomichev informed that Russian forces completed the task of surveying the area and they have now left.
"They completed the work they had set out to do. They surveyed the town, today they finished doing it and left the town. There aren't any in the town right now," said Fomichev in an online video post.
Vereshchuk has maintained that Russian forces were transporting large amounts of old and badly maintained weapons, creating a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor. She also said that Russian forces were preventing firefighters from bringing under control large numbers of fires in the zone, according to The Mirror.
"In the context of nuclear safety, the irresponsible and unprofessional actions of Russian servicemen present a very serious threat not only to Ukraine but to hundreds of millions of Europeans," said Vereshchuk on her Telegram account.
UN Demanded to Assess Risks at Site
Ukraine is now urging the United Nations to send a mission to assess the risks at the site.
Vereshchuk demanded that the UN Security Council adopt immediate measures to demilitarise the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl station. Kyiv fears a repeat of the Chernobyl accident could happen due to the actions of Russian occupying forces.
She has blamed that Russia was ignoring the risks as despite warning the latter continued to transport weapons in areas near the station.
