The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Thursday.
“It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians,” he said.
“This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today,” Podolyak said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier Thursday that Russian forces were attempting to capture the nuclear power plant.
“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,” Zelensky wrote in a tweet.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in a tweet also warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine “may cause another ecological disaster.”
“In 1986, the world saw the biggest technological disaster in Chernobyl … If Russia continues the war, Chernobyl can happen again in 2022,” the ministry wrote.
The Chernobyl power plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident when a nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, sending radioactive contamination across Europe, AP notes.
The plant is 80 miles north of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv.
