Russian military forces have captured the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant after Ukraine’s president issued a warning that the Russians were attempting to seize control.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian president, said the plant had been captured, adding that it was “impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe,” Reuters reported. Podolyak’s statement came hours after Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that “Russian occupation forces” were trying to seize control of the nuclear plant, adding that this was a “declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”
“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated,” Zelensky said
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also issued a warning on Twitter about what the attack on Ukraine could mean as soldiers made their way to Chernobyl.
“In 1986, the world saw the biggest technological disaster in Chornobyl,” the ministry said. The “attack on Ukraine may cause another ecological disaster moving its military forces to Chornobyl.”
“If Russia continues the war, Chornobyl can happen again in 2022,” the ministry said.
Located 80 miles from Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, the power plant in Chernobyl is the location of a 1986 explosion that was the world’s worst nuclear accident.
Moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation,” forces began to invade Ukraine early Thursday morning.
Early in the attack, explosions could be heard across parts of Ukraine, including in Kyiv, hours after Zelensky said he had reached out to Putin and asked for peace, only to be met with “silence.” Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst and CNN reported hearing the explosions in Kyiv shortly after receiving reports of explosions in the eastern part of the country.
Russia battered its neighboring country, unleashing a full-scale invasion. During the first hours of the war, Ukrainian soldiers fought along almost the entire border.
Military analysts speculate that Putin is trying to “suffocate rather than flatten Kyiv.”
More than 150 top-ranking Russian officials issued a letter to Putin regarding the attack, warning that there would be “catastrophic consequences” for the offensive against Ukraine.
“Hopes for a good life in Russia are crumbling before our eyes,” the officials said in the letter, according to the Daily Mail. “We urge you not to participate in the aggression and not to approve of it. Please don’t be silent: only massive popular condemnation can stop
