PUTIN: WHY SHOULD CHINA HAVE AN EXCLUSIVE ON MASS BIO-WEAPONS? Ukrainian Officials Warn of Fighting in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Russian and Ukrainian forces were fighting for control of the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Thursday evening local time, with Ukrainian officials warning that damage to nuclear storage facilities could send “radioactive dust” across Europe.

“Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the” Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Twitter post. “Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated….This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”

The Chernobyl reactor was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, when the core of the reactor melted down. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of the Interior, wrote on Facebook that Russian forces had moved to Chernobyl from Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbor.

“National Guard troops responsible for protecting the storage unit for dangerous radioactive waste are putting up fierce resistance,” Herashchenko wrote, in an English translation posted by the New York Times. If an explosion punctures the encasement of the reactor, “radioactive dust could cover the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and the countries of the European Union.”

Possibly not strong enough, according to some reports: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Captured by Russian Forces.