Air Raid sirens can be heard as Russian forces approach the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital of Kiev this morning (frid).
Saskatchewan Travel blogger Kenton De-Jong has been to Chernobyl – an area in the Ukraine that is part of the Russian incursion.
“For so long they’ve been under Russia’s shadow. They’ve been starved, they’ve been beaten, they’ve been sent to gulags. To see it again is horrible, absolutely horrible.”
Dejong says there are still major radiation hotspots that may prove to be an issue if military action were to take place near the site. He says if the radiation hotspots are compromised it could lead to significant ecological disaster.
“If it was to explode, for example and that was to spew out into the area, it would be highly radioactive, highly radiated and that doesn’t just include Ukraine but also Belarus.”
Dejong visited the Chernobyl site in 2016 just a few weeks after the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear Disaster.
Associated Press is reporting that the Russians took over the Chernobyl site after a fierce fight yesterday with Ukrainian national guards. The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is a 2,600-square-kilometrezone of forest surrounding the plant which has now been shuttered for 36 years. It lies between the Belarus-Ukraine border and Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
Vladimir Putin appeared to be threatening a nuclear attack in an address he made yesterday. He said any attempt by other countries to interfere in Ukraine would lead to ‘such consequences that you have never encountered in your history.’
Canada is bringing in stronger sanctions against Russia in the wake of its military strikes against Ukraine. Canada is imposing restrictions on 58 additional Russian individuals and entities, including banks, financial elites, oligarchs and their families; sanctioning members of the Russian Security Council, including the Defence Minister, the Finance Minister, and the Justice Minister; imposing restrictions on four Ukrainian individuals for their collaboration with Russia to destabilize Ukraine; and restricting exports to Russia by halting new export permit applications and cancelling valid export permits, with a limited number of exceptions for critical medical supply chains.
(with files from CKRM)
