Russian invaders STORM Chernobyl as Ukrainian troops ‘giving their lives’ to avert another nuclear disaster
A BATTLE was raging in the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone today after Russian troops stormed in from Belarus.
Ukrainian guards were fighting back, and officials warned a direct hit on a waste storage facility could spread a radioactive dust cloud over the whole of Europe.
The invasion from Belarus came as Vladimir Putin’s troops simultaneously surged into Ukraine from the east and south after a cruise missile blitz.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian occupation troops are trying to capture the Chernobyl site close to the Belarus border.
Forces were said to be fighting close to the giant sarcophagus that entombs the reactor that exploded in 1986 in the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
Mr Zelensky said Ukrainian guards were “giving their lives” to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe.
The site also houses nuclear waste, and officials fear a catastrophic leak could be caused by artillery shells.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister said: “If the occupiers’ artillery strikes destroy the nuclear waste storage facility, radioactive dust could cover the territories of Ukraine, Belarus and the EU.”