Ns News Online Desk: Russian troops have seized the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the Ukrainian military said Thursday. Parts of the southern Kherson region were also captured by the Russian forces, while a fierce battle was underway for an airbase near the capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders around nearly all of the country’s perimeter on Thursday after Moscow mounted a mass assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II.
“Russian occupying forces are trying to take over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Our soldiers are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 does not happen again,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter hours before the seizure, referring to the date of the disaster.
He called the attack “a declaration of war on all of Europe.”
The plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident when a nuclear reactor exploded in April 1986, spewing radioactive waste across Europe. The plant lies 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Kyiv.
The exploded reactor was covered by a protective shelter to prevent radiation leaks and the entire plant has been decommissioned.
Elsewhere, parts of the southern Kherson region were no longer under Kyiv’s control, the regional administration said.
Armored columns earlier pressed quickly toward Kherson in the main Russian advance on the first day of the invasion.
The Kherson regional government said 13 civilians had been killed, including two children, and nine Ukrainian soldiers have died during the fighting in the area.
Zelensnkyy urged Moscow to end hostilities, adding that Russian airborne troops had been checked outside Kyiv.
“It wasn’t Ukraine that chose the path of war, but Ukraine is offering to go back to the path of peace,” he said Thursday.
Ukrainian military authorities also said 20 Russian helicopters and Mi-8 aircraft had dispatched paratroopers at Hostomel airport in the Kyiv region, where forces from both sides were fighting for control.
He said a Russian airborne force in Hostomel airport outside Kyiv, which has a big runway, has been stopped and is being destroyed.
The Ukrainian leader said many Russian warplanes and armored vehicles were destroyed but didn’t give numbers. He also said an unspecified number of Russian troops was captured.
He said a difficult situation is developing in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city just over 20 kilometers from the Russian border. In the north the Russians are slowly advancing toward Chernihiv, Zelenskyy said.
He appealed to global leaders, saying that “if you don’t help us now, if you fail to offer strong assistance to Ukraine, tomorrow the war will knock on your door.”
