Boris Johnson has warned Russia’s escalating war with Ukraine risks ‘radioactive clouds’ spreading over Europe after Vladimir Putin’s troops seized the continent’s largest nuclear power plant.
The Prime Minister said he believes the Russian. President intends to ‘double down on his onslaught, envisaging ‘no way out but to ‘continue with the destruction.
He woke up during the night by a phone call. Ukrainian President Volodymyr. Zelensky, who was ‘extremely concerned about events at the power station in Zaporizhzhia.
The attack brought the conflict to a perilous moment, with rockets and gunfire causing a fire on the site but fortunately, there appears to be no sign of any radiation leaks.
In an interview with foreign media on Friday, Mr. Johnson said of the call: ‘He rang me to say something that I agreed with profoundly, which is: an attack on a nuclear power plant or an explosion at. A nuclear power plant is clearly a matter of our common European health and safety.
‘Our security is equally involved, equally jeopardized by such an attack.
‘We remember what happened with. Chernobyl, the radioactive clouds spread over the whole continent, and indeed, also too. North America, as far as I can remember.
‘There is clearly a risk.
‘Although the incident has been contained and the. IAEA says there’s no excessive radioactivity, I am concerned about how we stop a disaster: there are others. Ukrainian plants and there are certainly other Ukrainian radioactive nuclear waste sites.
‘One of the things we need to consider is how we’re going to work together to prevent such a disaster. I don’t think the answers are easy, but we need to work on it.’