Russian military seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and kidnap staff: Ukrainian officials

Russian military seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and kidnap staff: Ukrainian officials

Web Desk
February 26, 2022

Russian military seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and kidnap staff: Ukrainian officials

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian forces have taken control of the Chernobyl power facility in northern Ukraine, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, and are keeping personnel prisoner.

According to Yevgeniya Kuznetsova, a spokesman for Ukraine’s State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management, troops overran the factory on the first day of Russia’s multi-pronged assault of Ukraine.
According to Alyona Shevtsova, assistant to the commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, Russian forces have taken control of the power facility and are “holding hostage” the staff.

According to Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, control of the Chornobyl zone was lost after a “fierce battle.”

Podolyak stated that the condition of the nuclear waste storage facilities at the former Chernobyl power station is unknown.
“It is difficult to say Chernobyl is safe after a wholly foolish Russian attack in this manner,” Podolyak concluded. “This is one of Europe’s most severe threats today.”
The White House expressed indignation on Thursday over “reliable claims” that Russian military are holding Chernobyl facility workers hostage.

“This unlawful and dangerous hostage taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities, is obviously incredibly alarming and greatly concerning,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in a Thursday evening briefing.

“We condemn it and we request their release.”

Warnings over Russian moves

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had already warned that Russian forces were seeking to seize control of the nuclear complex.
“Russian occupation soldiers are attempting to take the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (nuclear power plant). Our defenders are laying down their lives to ensure that the tragedy of 1986 does not happen again “Zelensky took to Twitter. “This is a declaration of war against Europe as a whole.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry echoed the President’s statement, threatening the city with another nuclear calamity.

“In 1986, the world saw the biggest technological disaster in Chernobyl,” the ministry tweeted. “If Russia continues the war, Chernobyl can happen again in 2022.”

On April 26, 1986, near Pripyat, Ukraine, an explosion ripped through Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor, killing more than 30 people.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization, many others perished from radiation illnesses in the years that followed. The Ukrainian authorities evacuated approximately 135,000 residents from the vicinity, and the 19-mile exclusion zone surrounding the facility will be uninhabitable for decades.

A sarcophagus was developed in the months following the accident to cover Reactor 4 and contain the radioactive material. This degraded later, resulting in radioactive leakage.
A structure known as the New Safe Confinement was built over the sarcophagus in 2016. The massive, arching form is meant to prevent tainted material from being released while also protecting the tomb from exterior threats such as tornadoes or severe thunderstorms.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine before daybreak Thursday, with missile attacks on targets near the capital Kyiv and long-range artillery targeting the city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border. As Russian forces invaded the country from three sides, the assault soon extended over central and eastern Ukraine.

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