US: Chernobyl nuclear power plant personnel held hostage

Staff at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant are held hostage by Russian soldiers. White House spokesman Jen Psaki told her daily news conference that the United States is “deeply outraged” at this “unlawful and dangerous” hostage situation.

On Thursday, the first reports came out of fighting near the nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, where the worst nuclear disaster ever occurred in 1986. Psaki calls the current hostage situation “incredibly alarming”, also because it could mean that the nuclear power plant will not continue to run safely.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky called the attack on Chernobyl “a declaration of war on all of Europe”.

Chernobyl has not produced electricity for more than two decades, according to The New York Times. According to the American newspaper, the danger of an attack on the nuclear power plant is that radioactive material could escape. The Belarusian news platform NEXTA reports that increased radiation levels have been observed in the vicinity of Chernobyl, but this has not been verified by other media.