(ETH) – Satellite images are revealing a massive forest fire in Ukraine that has continued to burn for more than a week and is now just one kilometer from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant and posing a radiation risk, according to the latest report from Reuters.
Over 1,000 firefighters are reportedly struggling to control the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site despite high-winds that threaten to send radioactive smoke to nearby residents as well as neighboring countries.
As of now, The Emergency Situations Service stated that radiation levels in the exclusion zone had not changed and those in nearby Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, “did not exceed natural background levels”. However, Greenpeace Russia is saying that the situation is much worse than Ukrainian authorities believe and that the fires cover an area one thousand times bigger than what is being reported.
“According to satellite images taken on Monday, the area of the largest fire has reached 34,400 hectares,” it said, adding that a second fire, stretching across 12,600 hectares, was just one kilometer away from the defunct plant.
