JAKARTA - A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia on Sunday of irresponsible actions in the vicinity of the occupied Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which could send radiation to much of Europe, urging the United Nations to send a mission to assess the risks.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian forces were 'militarizing' the exclusion zone around the station, the site of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident in 1986.
Russian troops, she said, were transporting large quantities of old and poorly maintained weapons, creating a risk of damaging the containment vessels built around the station's damaged fourth reactor.
And, Russian troops prevented firefighters from controlling a large number of fires in the zone.
"In the context of nuclear safety, the irresponsible and unprofessional actions of Russian servicemen pose a very serious threat not only to Ukraine but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans," Vereshchuk said on her Telegram account.
"Therefore, we demand that the United Nations Security Council take immediate action to demilitarize the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl station, as well as send a special mission to eliminate the risk of a repeat of the Chernobyl accident, caused by the actions of the Russian occupying forces."
Vereshchuk further said that damage to the containment vessel, which was built with European financing, "would inevitably lead to the release in the atmosphere of a large amount of radioactive dust, with contamination not only in Ukraine but also in other European countries."
Russia, she said, was 'ignoring this risk' by continuing to transport weapons in the area near the station.
Reuters could not immediately verify Vereshchuk's claims on the ground. Meanwhile, Russia has previously denied that its forces put nuclear facilities inside Ukraine in jeopardy.
It is known that the fire and explosion in 1986 at the fourth reactor Chernobyl sent radiation to the UK and Spain. Thousands of deaths have been attributed to the accident and the radiation it gives off. All of its reactors are now decommissioned.
Russian troops occupied Chernobyl station in the first days of last month's invasion, temporarily preventing staff maintaining the facility there from leaving or being replaced by other workers.
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Meanwhile, the mayor of Slavutych, the town that was created and built to house factory staff after the 1986 crash, said on Monday morning the Russian troops who took over the city at the weekend were now gone.
Yuri Fomichev said in an online video post, the troops "hey finished the job they did" and left. He initially said three people were killed in the clashes.
To note, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement it was monitoring the situation and expressed concern about the ability of staff to cycle in and out of Chernobyl.
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