The State Agency of Ukraine for the Exclusion Zone Management warns of an increase in radiation hazard as a result of recorded fires in the Chornobyl nuclear power plant zone, which tend to spread.

"In accordance with the classification criteria for emergency situations, the criteria for a fire in the exclusion zone should not exceed 0.05-0.2 km², but the state of the fire area exceeds these figures by dozens of times," the agency said on its Facebook on Sunday.

They noted that according to the report of Director General of Ecocenter Serhiy Kiriyev as of March 12, 2022, according to NASA FIRMS (https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/), on March 11, 2022 within 4 newly formed fire centers were recorded in the exclusion zone.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, which the agency refers to, fire cells have the following characteristics: Poliske - 0.02 km², Bober - 3.8 km², Stechanka - 0.3 km², Rudnia-September – 0.25 km².

"From the point of view of radiation risks recorded by the automated system for monitoring the radiation condition at 39 points, the existing fires in areas with significant levels of contamination with radionuclides and at the locations of the radioactive waste management infrastructure within 10 points are of particular danger," the agency emphasized.

They suggested that the fire occurred as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, namely, a shell hit or deliberate arson.