The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is now under control of Russian troops, the Ukrainian presidential office has said.
Fighting broke out at Chernobyl on Thursday after Vladimir Putin launched a major invasion of Ukraine.
Video footage shows Russian tanks and armoured vehicles standing in front of the destroyed reactor, which sits just 60 miles north of the capital Kiev.
The plant was the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident when a reactor exploded in April 1986, sending harmful radioactive waste across Europe.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry had earlier issued a bleak warning of the dangers of the fighting near the plant, saying: “In 1986, the world saw the biggest technological disaster in Chernobyl.
“[Russia]’s attack on Ukraine may cause another ecological disaster moving its military forces to Chernobyl. If [Russia] continues the war, Chernobyl can happen again in 2022”.
Speaking as Russian troops entered the area, Vadym Prystaiko, Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, said: “They came through the exclusion zone of Chernobyl.
“This zone is not protected, because there is radiation, nobody lives there. They now came to this particular unprotected part of our borders through the Russian territory.”
The exclusion zone is around 80 miles north of the country’s capital, Kiev.
The British Ministry of Defence said as of 4pm Thursday, that Russian troops based in Belarus were moving towards the capital.
"Russia has conducted an air assault on an airfield on the outskirts of Kiev", said the update.
“Strikes have been delivered through a combination of Russian ground, air and sea-launched missiles and by artillery bombardment.”
Strikes have targeted military infrastructure - especially command and control and air defence installations - and that the Ukrainian forces had "put up a staunch resistance and continue to hold key cities".
But it added that "heavy casualties have been suffered on both sides, although exact numbers are currently unclear".
Elsewhere, large explosions have been heard in other major cities, with US officials estimating more than 100 Russian missile strikes hitting Ukrainian targets within a matter of hours.
President Putin launched the invasion early Thursday morning.
