Ukraine has called for the UN Security Council declare a special security zone for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said a special UN mission should take control of the area, Ukrayinska Pravda reported Sunday, reports MIA.
“In terms of nuclear security, the irresponsible and unprofessional actions of the Russian military are posing a serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of other Europeans,” she said.
“We are therefore calling for the UN Security Council to take prompt measures to demilitarize the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and deploy a special UN mission,” she said.
The move should then reduce the risk of another accident at Chernobyl being caused by Russian occupying troops.
Vereshchuk said Russian troops were storing large amounts of munitions in the area of the reactor, and that big forest and bush fires had broken out in the area around the reactor which could lead to serious consequences.
Efforts to extinguish the fires were being hindered by Russian troops and radioactive particles could reach the air and be dispersed by wind as a result of the fires, she said.
A day earlier, Ukraine’s environment ministry had registered a total of 31 fire sources on the grounds of Chernobyl.
The power plant grounds have been under Russian control for around a month. After a devastating nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, a large dome was built over the destroyed reactor. Radioactive waste is still stored there today.
