Russia has demolished the Chernobyl nuclear power plant – Ukraine

            According to Ukrainian officials, Russian forces occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power plant “looted and destroyed” a laboratory on the site.

According to the Ukrainian State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management, the Russians destroyed their Central Analytical Laboratories, which handled a large amount of radioactive waste.

According to a Facebook post by the state agency, the laboratory included “very active materials and radioactive samples, which are now in the hands of the adversary”.

The lab, which cost approximately six million euros to build, also housed “important analytical equipment” that was not accessible anywhere in Europe, according to the agency.

Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe in 1986, is no longer an operational power station, yet it nevertheless requires regular maintenance.

The Russians took it in the early days of the fighting last month and held workers there for weeks before releasing some.

The old nuclear facility remains a major source of worry, and earlier this week, Ukraine’s parliament reported that forest fires had ignited near the plant, which had been seen in satellite photographs.