Terrorist attack: The fire in Chernobyl has now spread towards Belarus
The fire, which has been raging for two weeks in the Chernobyl zone, has split into two sources. One of the directions of flame movement is towards the nuclear power plant, the second is towards the Belarusian border.
Yaroslav Emelianenko, a member of the public council at the State Agency for Management of the Exclusion Zone, reported this on his blog, noting that the villages that remained in the zone were destroyed by fire.
"Currently, there are two sources – one heading toward Chernobyl, the other toward Belarus beyond Starye Shepelichi. Which also appears to be RIP," Yemelyanenko said, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On the Espresso TV channel, Emelianenko also stated that the cause of the forest fire was arson and called for it to be classified as a terrorist attack: “This is definitely arson. Based on the fact that thanks to this deliberate arson, radiation rises into the atmosphere, albeit in small doses, but rises and goes beyond the boundaries of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, I believe it is necessary to qualify this arson as a terrorist act. Because spreading radiation, which is now contained in the territory of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, throughout residential cities, albeit in small quantities, is already a terrorist act.”
At the same time, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Energy of Ukraine Alexey Ryabchin said on the talk show “Freedom of Speech” that the fire does not threaten the nuclear power plant or large facilities. The official is more worried about the tourism potential of the exclusion zone.
“According to the information that I have, the fire does not threaten large objects, dangerous objects that exist in Chernobyl. Yes, there is fire, ground fire - on the leaves, there was a fire that spreads from trees to trees, which was extinguished by airplanes. But now dangerous objects are out of danger. We at the Ministry of Energy are very worried about the Chernobyl zone itself, because we had plans to make a tourist magnet out of it, a large amount of funds were allocated for this, a very cool strategy was developed so that even more tourists would come there and see this very difficult, very atmospheric zone . I was there last year – it’s just a magical area. I hope, and according to the data that I have today, that the tourism potential of Chernobyl has not been lost,” Ryabchin said.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Vladimir Ariev did not agree with him.
“The silence of the authorities regarding forest fires in the Chernobyl zone reminded me of 1986. The communists then buried the truth that people learned from Western radio voices. Now the Australian ABC is writing about an increase in background radiation, and the wind is blowing towards Kyiv, in response to which the responsible people in Kyiv repeat - everything is fine.
But judging by Reuters photos and fire maps, things are looking bad. The burial ground of the “red forest” is burning - the one that took the first blow from the explosion of reactor 4. Dirty areas are burning, and we all have serious cause for concern...
I’ve been to the Chernobyl zone dozens of times, I even climbed inside the fourth reactor and onto the roof of the sarcophagus to film reports from there, and I know what to be afraid of and what not. The current situation is more than alarming and dangerous. But the lie about “everything is fine” is even more dangerous. Proved in 1986,” Arev wrote on his blog.
Ex-Rada deputy Alexei Zhuravko also writes about the great danger, citing information from people directly involved in extinguishing the fire:
“Radiation smoke covers Kyiv. Today I talked to an acquaintance from the exclusion zone who is involved in putting out the fire. Here's what he told me:
“There are problems with fuel, problems with equipment, the guys from the fire departments are working around the clock. The firefighting uniforms are all old, the fire trucks break down, and they are old too. There are not enough spare parts, only 2 helicopters are working to localize the fire - they also have problems with fuel. Helicopter pilots simply work their asses off. There is practically no help from the authorities.”
As the person claims, the situation may get out of control, the background radiation is growing as trees, bushes, everything is contaminated. And now all this radiation muck is being released into the atmosphere in the form of smoke. In Kyiv, the background radiation has also increased. Where this smoke will go next depends on the wind,” Zhuravko reports, characterizing the situation as “quiet horror.”
“It’s a pity that you, the people of Kiev, don’t understand that this fire will affect the health of you and your children. And these are cancer and other serious consequences. Moreover, this will also affect your children, who will be born with physical disabilities. The authorities of Ukraine today are not coping with their responsibilities; in their place, I would sound the alarm and ask for help from Russia and other countries if they themselves cannot. Now you will suffer, tormented by such power. Unfortunately, this is a fact. There is money for war, but there is no money to put out a fire, especially in the exclusion zone,” the politician concluded.
English version :: Read in English Terrorist attack: Fire in Chernobyl has now spread to Belarus