Russia capture Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, Signal to NATO, West

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces. Russian troops took over the power plant while Ukrainian forces battled them on three sides on Thursday after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air. Chernobyl sits on the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, Ukraine capital, and so runs along a logical line of attack for the Russian forces invading Ukraine.. After Russian forces captured the area, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country's forces were fighting to ensure the horrors of 1986 would not be repeated. " our defenders are giving their lives…" he said, adding "this a declaration of war against the whole of Europe."

According to experts, the capture of Chernobyl was meant to be a signal by Russia President Vladimir Putin to the West and NATO to not interfere with his plans. Chernobyl is also seen as key because of its proximity to Kyiv; the town itself is just 130 kilometres from Ukraine's capital. The fourth reactor at Chernobyl exploded in April 1986 during a botched safety test, sending clouds of radiation billowing across much of Europe and reaching the eastern United States. The radioactive strontium, caesium and plutonium mainly affected Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, as well as parts of Russia and Europe. Estimates for the numbers of direct and indirect deaths from the disaster vary from the low thousands to as many as 93,000 extra cancer deaths worldwide.