According to reports, Russian shelling has caused wildfires to erupt across Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone.

It is estimated that 25 acres of forest surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear site, which is under Russian control, are now on fire.

Officials are concerned that the fire will rip through the forest and destroy the power plant, resulting in a nuclear disaster with “irreparable consequences” for Ukraine and the “entire world.”

On Twitter, Ukrainian politician Inna Sovsun stated that authorities are unable to put out the fire because the area is under Russian control.

“10 hectares of forest are burning in the Chornobyl Zone, caused by #Russian shelling,” she tweeted.

“It isn’t possible to put out the fire now, as this territory isn’t controlled by #Ukraine. “We’re afraid that the fire will reach the nuclear power plant. The radiation level is already elevated.”

Ms Sovsun’s remarks came after Ukraine’s parliament speaker, Lyudmila Denisova, announced details about the wildfires earlier today.

According to Interfax Ukraine, she claimed that 31 fires had already been recorded in the Zone – the 1,000 square miles surrounding the plant where radioactivity is highest and public access and residence is restricted.

Ms Denisova warned that the fires had resulted in an increase in radioactive air pollution and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send experts and firefighters to the war-torn country to “prevent irreparable consequences not only for Ukraine, but for the entire world.”

“Radionuclides are released into the atmosphere as a result of combustion and are carried for long distances by wind. This poses a radiation risk to Ukraine, Belarus, and European countries “Ms Denisova explained.

Authorities have warned that the site contains nuclear fuel storage facilities and nuclear waste dumps that, if ignited, could result in a nuclear disaster.

Depending on the weather, the fires could become more intense, with large-scale blazes possible if conditions become windy and dry.

Russian state media outlets, on the other hand, claim the Exclusion Zone is not on fire and have filmed an area they claim to be the Chernobyl site with no raging fires or smoke billowing into the sky.

After the explosion on April 26, 1986, which produced a radioactive cloud that stretched across Europe, the Zone was cordoned off in what was the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Ukrainian authorities announced earlier today that Russian forces had fired rockets at a nuclear research facility in Kharkiv, which is still under siege.

And fears of a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl are growing after Russian troops shelled the town where the plant’s workers live.

There are fears that Russian shelling of Ukrainian checkpoints in Slavutych, the home of Chernobyl nuclear workers, is preventing workers from entering and exiting the plant.

And the bombing comes just days after Ukrainian workers who had been held captive by Russian forces for nearly four weeks to maintain the nuclear plant without being rotated were finally allowed to return to their homes in Slavutych.

Since Russia captured the site on the first day of the invasion on February 24, workers at Chernobyl have been held at gunpoint.