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Zelensky says Ukrainian forces trying to prevent Russian capture of Chernobyl
Zelensky said Thursday Kyiv's forces were fighting invading Russian troops for control of the Chernobyl plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
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Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, killing dozens and forcing hundreds to flee for their lives in the pro-Western neighbour. Russian air strikes hit military facilities across the country and ground forces moved in from the north, south and east, triggering condemnation from Western leaders and warnings of massive sanctions. (AFP/Anatolii Stepanov)
P
resident Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Ukrainian forces were fighting to prevent Russian troops from capturing the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl.
Zelensky said Thursday Kyiv's forces were fighting invading Russian troops for control of the Chernobyl plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
"Russian occupying forces are trying to take over the Chernobyl nuclear Power Plant. Our soldiers are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 does not happen again," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the date of the disaster.
He called the attack "a declaration of war on all of Europe".
Elsewhere, parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region were no longer under Kyiv's control, the regional administration said, as Russian forces attacked by land, sea and air, Reuters reported.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian and Ukrainian forces are battling for control of an airbase on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian officer said Thursday, as dozens of attack helicopters swooped on the area.
"Fighting is underway for Gostomel airfield," armed forces chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said in a statement posted online. Shortly earlier, AFP reporters had seen helicopters flying low over the city from the north.
The Gostomel airfield, which is alongside the Antonov airport, is immediately on the northern edge of Kiev, and the fighting there is the closest that Russian forces had got to the capital on the first day of their invasion.
Alexander Kovtonenko, a 30-year-old civilian living nearby, said that two fighter jets had fired missiles at Ukrainian ground units as the assault got underway.
"Then there was shooting, it lasted three hours," he told AFP. "Then three more jets flew in and they started shooting again."
Smoke was rising from the scene and social media images appeared to show an assault by helicopter-borne troops. CNN showed footage of Russian troops at the airport and a reporter said he had spoken to them.
Earlier, Ukrainian border guards had confirmed that Russian ground forces equipped with tanks had also crossed south over the Belarus-Ukraine border into the Kyiv administrative region, headed towards the capital.
