Senior Ukrainian officials on Sunday (27/3) gave a stern warning to Russian troops who returned to show activity around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant complex. The Ukrainian government is concerned that strenuous activity there could trigger radiation leaks.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian troops had crossed the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl site, the site of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident in 1986.
"In the context of nuclear safety, the irresponsible and unprofessional actions of Russian forces pose a very serious threat not only to Ukraine but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans," Vereshchuk said.
Vereshchuk said Russian troops were transporting a large number of old and poorly maintained weapons. The activity ran the risk of damaging the containment vessels built around the site's damaged fourth reactor.
Russian troops also reportedly stopped firefighters trying to control the large number of fires in the zone.
In response, Vereshchuk demanded the UN Security Council to immediately take action to demilitarize the exclusive zone around Chernobyl station to eliminate the risk of a repeat of a nuclear accident in the region.
"Damage to the containment vessel will lead to the release in the atmosphere of large quantities of radioactive dust and contamination not only in Ukraine but also in other European countries. Russia is ignoring this risk by continuing to transport weapons in the area near the site," Vereshchuk continued.
Russian troops occupied the site of Chernobyl in the first days of last month's invasion. They also forced the staff who maintain the facilities there to leave or be replaced with other workers.
The mayor of Slavutych, the town that was created and built to house factory staff after the 1986 crash, said on Monday the Russian troops who took over the city at the weekend were now gone.
Until now, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is still monitoring the situation at Chernobyl and expressed concern about the retention of workers at the site.
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