Wildfires in Ukraine continue to rage in a region under a mile and a half from the hazardous waste that was spilled during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Reuters reports.
Greenpeace Russia said satellite images of the blaze close to town of Pripyat displayed burn marks at about 0.6 miles from the site of the 1986 nuclear accident.
"According to satellite images taken on Monday, the area of the largest fire has reached 34,400 hectares," Greenpeace told Reuters.
Greenpeace officials also said another wildfire is burning about 12,600 hectares from the destroyed nuclear plant.
These reports conflict with those from Ukrainian officials who said the fire only burned 20 hectares.
Aerial images of the 19-mile exclusion zone show charred ground and burned stumps of burning trees circling the Chernobyl.
According to the state's Emergency Situations Service, radiation levels in the zone have not changed and levels in nearby Kiev "did not exceed natural background levels."
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