Wildfire burning outside Chornobyl exclusion zone – ecology minister

14:20, 30.06.2015 1 min read

Ukraine's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ihor Shevchenko has said that the ongoing forest fires in Kyiv region originated outside the Chornobyl exclusion zone.

"The fire is not in the territory of the exclusion zone, but outside it, it is outside a 30-kilometer zone, in the area which in fact is not controlled by the State Agency for Exclusion Zone," Shevchenko told reporters in parliament on Tuesday.

The minister said that the fire broke out due to drought and that such fires occurred regularly.

Shevchenko added he intended to go to the site of the fire on Tuesday.

Ukraine's State Emergency Situations Service reported earlier on Tuesday that a wildfire covering an area of approximately 130 hectares was burning in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, on the premises of the Chornobylska Puscha specialized forestry enterprise.