President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian forces are fighting to stop Russian troops from taking control of the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl.
In a tweet on Thursday afternoon, Zelensky confirmed that fighting had broken out.
"Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the #Chornobyl_NPP. Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated," he wrote, referring to the nuclear reactor explosion that led to a deadly radioactive waste fallout.
Zelensky went on to accuse Russia of declaring war on all of Europe, saying: "This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe."
Located around eighty miles north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Chernobyl is the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. In 1986, a botched safety test led to the nuclear reactor exploding and deadly radioactive waste spreading across the continent.
The reactor has since been covered by a protective shelter to prevent further radiation leaks.
The news that fighting has broken out in the region comes just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an early morning televised address.
Per CNN, Putin announced that the "special military operation" was being launched in order to demilitarise and denazify the region, in reference to Kremlin claims that Ukraine's military is being run be Neo-Nazis.
He went on to say that the operation aims to protect those who have "suffered from abuse and genocide from the Kyiv regime".
"Our plans are not to occupy Ukraine, we do not plan to impose ourselves on anyone," Putin said, before insisting that anyone who tried to intervene would face consequences and that Ukraine would be to blame if fighting broke out.
Putin said:
"Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history."
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