Less than two weeks after Ukraine’s Chernivtsi region was placed on a full coronavirus lockdown forest fires in the nearby Chernobyl exclusion zones may have led to an increase in radiation levels.
The fires have caused fears in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, 60 miles south of the restricted areas.
However, Ukrainian officials have asked for calm and firefighters are said to have managed to put out two forest blazes which began apparently after someone started a grass fire.
More than 100 firefighters backed by planes and helicopters have been sent to fight the remaining blazes.
A video with a Geiger counter showing radiation at 16 times above normal has been released on social media and an official statement says fire had spread to about 100 hectares of forest.
An official had said on Saturday that increased radiation in some areas had led to “difficulties” in fighting the fire.
The country’s emergency ministry put out a warning for Kyiv about poor air quality but said it was related to meteorological conditions, and not to the fire.
A few days earlier, on April 3, with five quarantine checkpoints set up near police stations at the in Chernivtsi region officials said this: “The checkpoints will start working at noon on April 3. From that moment, any passenger vehicle will be blocked.”
The double blow has chilled Ukraines who were directly in line for the Chernobyl nuclear fall-out which terrified Ukraine, Belarus and West Russia, with some areas contaminated indefinitely.
The World Nuclear Association said: “Most of the released material was deposited close by as dust and debris, but the lighter material was carried by wind over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and to some extent over Scandinavia and Europe.”
Police have arrested a suspect, a 27-year-old man from the area who reportedly told police he had set grass and rubbish on fire in three places “for fun”.
Chernobyl polluted a large area of Europe when its fourth reactor exploded in April 1986, with the region immediately around the power plant the worst affected. People are not allowed to live within 30km of the power station.
The three other reactors at Chernobyl continued to generate electricity until the power station finally closed in 2000. A giant protective dome was put in place over the fourth reactor in 2016.
