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A forest fire burns in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (AP)

Russia has said it is carrying out enhanced radiation monitoring after fires broke out in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Friday.

The country’s national public health agency said that enhanced radiation monitoring was being conducted and the situation was now “stable”.

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster is considered to be the world's worst civil nuclear accident.

It spread Iodine-131, Caesium-134 and Caesium-137 across parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, northern and central Europe.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued its long-range attacks on Russia with a drone strike one of the country’s largest oil refineries, located in Yaroslavl.

In full Ukraine-Russia war latest: Firefighters race to Chernobyl nuclear plant after massive blaze breaks out in…