The founder and voluntary CEO of Chernobyl Children International has pleaded with Russian and Ukrainian forces to 'stop this war' after the former nuclear power station came under Russian control on Thursday night.
Adi Roche was speaking after it was revealed that troops have seized the former plant at Chernobyl, 90 km north of Kyiv, as fighting continues to rage across Ukraine.
An official told the Associated Press a missile has hit a radioactive waste store at the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the president’s office, said: "After a fierce battle, our control over the Chernobyl site has been lost."
"The condition of the facilities of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant is unknown," he added.
Shortly after the news, Tipperary native Adi released a strong statement, urging for a halt to proceedings.
She said: "I appeal on behalf of all humanity, but mostly on behalf of the citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and indeed on behalf of the citizens of Europe, to the warring armies, under the Hague Conventions, that the highly contaminated area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, with its thousands of tons and gallons of highly radioactive material, not be targeted or used as areas of shelling, bombardment and ground fighting.
"My worst nightmare in this conflict is that the tragedy of the Chernobyl disaster could be re-released on the world.
"I fear that this area, a sacred area, an area of utter vulnerability and danger, a special area of human tragedy, could once again have deadly radioactive contamination released, which would spread everywhere, like a great and uncontrollable monster.
"The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has vast silos of nuclear waste and water, which are highly dangerous and volatile. It also has hundreds of shallow ‘nuclear graves’, which are scattered throughout the Exclusion Zone, holding the contents of thousands of houses, machinery, buses and trucks, all of which have been buried there to keep the radiation underground.
"Should a bomb, missile, a shot-down plane or helicopter crash into this area, the consequences could be disastrous.
"In the name of humanity, in the name of the children, please stop this war and declare the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as a ‘Safe No War Zone."
