Russia: Monitoring of radiation levels at Chernobyl plant continues

According to Fars News Agency’s International Service, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that the monitoring of radiation levels at the “Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant” is continuing as usual and that Russian paratroopers are providing security.

“Russian air force units, along with Ukrainian National Guard forces, are guarding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to Interfax.
“Chernobyl employees continue to monitor radiation levels and provide services as usual,” the statement said.

Earlier in mid-February, amid Western and Moscow tensions over Ukraine, Ukrainian troops held a tactical military exercise in the Forbidden City of Chernobyl, near the city’s nuclear reactor.

Meanwhile, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister claimed that Russian forces were approaching the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

Zaporizhia is one of four active nuclear power plants in Ukraine and has six reactors, each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. The plant was built around the same time as the Chernobyl plant, and its reactors date back to the former Soviet era. Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and in Europe. The plant is said to have been operated by the Ukrainian government.

Russia has ordered a military strike on Ukraine since Thursday morning. This development came days after Moscow formally recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine. Russia says Ukraine has not fulfilled its obligations under the Minsk agreements reached in 2014 and 2015 to resolve the dispute between separatists and Kiev.

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