The wind shifted Friday toward Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, but authorities say the radiation level is still normal in the city, whose population is about 3 million. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, authorities created an area around the plant known as the Zone of Alienation, a rough circle with a nearly 18-mile radius, fenced off with barbed wire. Already in lockdown because of the coronavirus, Ukraine is now also contending with fires in the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Chernobyl zone. Wildfires break out there often but the blazes burning through dry grass and pine forests this spring, after a warm and dry winter, are far larger than the typical brush fires in the Chernobyl zone. However, the radiation level in the air, once smoke has disbursed far from the fires, is considered safe.

Source: bd News24 April 12, 2020 07:30 UTC