This is how the Ukrainians live the invasion 1:27
(CNN Spanish) --
Russian troops have seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian State Agency for the Management of Exclusion Zones, Yevgeniya Kuznetsov, told CNN.
“When I arrived at the office this morning [in Kiev], it turned out that the management [of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant] had left.
So there was no one to give instructions or defend," the spokeswoman said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier tweeted that Russian forces were trying to take control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
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"This is a declaration of war against all of Europe," Zelenzky said.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry echoed Zelensky's warning, tweeting that a Russian attack on Ukraine could "cause another ecological disaster."
"In 1986, the world witnessed the greatest technological disaster in Chernobyl," the Ministry tweeted.
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"If Russia continues the war, Chernobyl could happen again in 2022."
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Ukraine's ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova echoed Zelensky's earlier remarks about Russian forces' attempt to seize control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, adding that the Ukrainian National Guard is working to protect the nuclear plant. of the attacks.
"They tried to take over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the fighting is going on right there with the National Guard of Ukraine protecting the Chernobyl plant from attack," Markarova told a news conference.
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"For the first time since the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, after which Ukraine has protected the world from another nuclear catastrophe, together with our European and American friends and allies, we have to defend it again from Russian forces," he added.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Three decades after the nuclear disaster there, the name Chernobyl still inspires dread.
When an explosion ripped through Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant on April 26, 1986, it was the worst nuclear accident the world had ever seen.
Clouds of highly radioactive particles were released into the air during a routine shutdown attempt at the power plant north of Kiev in the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine).
More than 30 people died and many more have died from radiation symptoms since then, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.
The Ukrainian government has evacuated some 135,000 people from the area and the 30km exclusion zone around the plant will remain uninhabitable for decades.