IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi arrived in Ukraine. He will hold talks on the planned provision of urgent technical assistance to the IAEA to ensure the safety and reliability of the country's nuclear facilities and prevent the risk of an accident that could threaten people and the environment.

This was reported by the IAEA press service.

Grossi plans to initiate operational support for Ukraine's nuclear facilities in the field of safety and security. It will include sending IAEA experts to priority sites and supplying vital safety equipment, including monitoring and emergency response equipment.

"The military conflict is putting Ukraine's nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive materials at unprecedented risk. We must take urgent measures to ensure their continued safe operation and reduce the risk of a nuclear accident that could have serious consequences for human health and the environment both in Ukraine and abroad," the IAEA head said.

Meanwhile, it became known that Russian soldiers drove through the Red Forest in the exclusion zone without proper protection. Because of this radioactive dust rose, which is extremely dangerous to the human body, which they "inhaled.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant employees told Reuters about this.

According to experts, the Red Forest area is so toxic that even employees of the nuclear power plant are not allowed there. However, the Russians did not know this. So when the Russian armed forces took over the ChNPP, they drove their armored vehicles without radiation protection and, as a result, they probably had already received radiation damage.

"When they were asked if they knew about the 1986 disaster, about the explosion of the fourth power unit, they had no idea. They didn't understand what facility they were at," noted one of the Chernobyl workers.

Ukrainian specialists also added that Russian "colleagues" from Rosatom, who arrived in the Chernobyl zone about a week after the military, also did not wear protection.

Recall that the main fires in the exclusion zone have been extinguished. No major fires are now observed in the Chernobyl zone.

Also in the Chernobyl zone could worsen the radiation background. The plant workers have no data on the current state of environmental contamination due to the occupation of the territory by Russian troops, and this could threaten Ukraine and Europe.