The total area of fires in the exclusion zone, which began to be recorded over the last two weeks of the Russian occupation, exceeds 8,700 hectares in more than 30 areas, acting Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets has said.

"Due to the predatory actions of the invaders in the Chornobyl zone ecosystems over the past two weeks, more than 30 fires have been recorded on an area of over 8,700 hectares. If they continue to 'play with fire,' there is a threat of catastrophic fires on the scale of 2020," Strilets wrote on Facebook on Thursday, adding that fires were recorded on 5,000 hectares of fallow land and almost 2,500 hectares of forests, as well as in swamps, ashes of past years and in abandoned settlements.

According to his data, currently 28 fires have been localized on an area of ​​more than 8,000 hectares, but burning continues on the territory of two forestries – Lubianske and Kotovske. On Wednesday, four more new fires were discovered in the forest areas of the zone.

Strilets explained that while weather conditions contribute to the self-extinguishment of fires, the air temperature is rising daily, "as are the risks of a recurrence of large-scale fires in the 2020 zone."

"Unfortunately, the exclusion zone is still under the control of the Rashists. All this does not allow our specialists to maintain sufficient security of the territory and keep radionuclides on the ground. Fires contribute to their transfer and increase in the concentration in the air," the Minister of Natural Resources noted.

At the same time, he assured that the situation is under control, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management and the State Forest Resources Agency continue to constantly monitor fires in the exclusion zone and, if possible, take measures to eliminate them.