No fires in Chernobyl NPP exclusion zone as of Monday morning - State Emergency Service of Ukraine

KYIV. March 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) - There are no fires burning in the Chernobyl exclusion zone as of Monday morning, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.

"Given the false information published on social networks and certain media outlets regarding largescale fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reports that as of 7:57 a.m. on March 28 satellite images did not indicate the existence of any thermal spots or fires in the exclusion zone," the service said on social media.

The service called against spreading unverified information and said that official information should be relied upon.

Vadym Denysenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, said earlier that information about massive forest fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone was several days old.

"Speaking of fires. Indeed, there has been plenty of talk about large fires in the Chernobyl zone. That's quite outdated information, considering that there were fires on vast territories, up to 8,000 hectares, a few days back. Luckily, we have put out these fires. At this point, we cannot speak of the existence of any large fires there, and the situation is more or less stable," Denysenko said at a televised marathon on Monday.

Radiation levels remain normal in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, he said.

"A lot of old information, dating a few weeks back, has been repeated lately. As of now, the fire situation in the Chernobyl zone is more or less stable, and there are no big fires burning," Denysenko said.