Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged citizens not to panic over the fires raging in the alienation zone around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP).
“The head of the State Emergency Service has been updating on the developments daily over the past week. Six blazes were overcome yesterday. There is no threat to the NPP or to the spent-fuel storage facility or other critical assets. As of now, there is no sign of open fire in the alienation zone,” Zelensky said in a video address to the nation on April 14.
He urged them not to yield to the panic. “We remember the lessons of April 26, 1986. And no one will be hiding the truth from you. Right now, the truth is that the situation there is under control. Background radiation in the capital and in the Kyiv region is within the norm,” he said.
The national police have already apprehended people who provoked the fire outbreak, and they will feel the full force of the law, the president said.
