A chemical plant that has been damaged by Russian bombings is leaking highly toxic ammonia, infecting a 2.5-kilometer zone around the facility, according to the Sumy governor in the northeast. Ukraine early Monday morning.
In posts on Facebook and the Telegram, Dmitry Zivicki warned that the village of Novoselitsia was in danger.
Local authorities have called on residents to seek refuge from the chemical, especially in basements and on the ground floor, and to avoid being exposed to it, amid ongoing fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Dmitry Zivicki, the governor of Sumy, said that all residents within a five-kilometer radius of the Sumihibrom plant, which produces various types of chemical fertilizers, should take protection measures. Ammonia, a substance with a particularly strong odor, is lighter than oxygen.
Mr Zivicki did not specify how the leak was caused. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed yesterday that “Ukrainian nationalists” had “trapped” the ammonia and chlorine storage facilities of the Sumichibrom industry with explosives in order to “cause mass poisoning” in case Russian units enter the city.
Sumi, 350 kilometers east of Kiev, a city of about 250,000 inhabitants before the war broke out, is not directly threatened by ammonia at the moment due to the direction of the winds, according to him.
It is impossible to verify this information independently.
The Russian Defense Ministry recently accused the Ukrainian authorities of plotting to carry out a chemical weapons attack on civilians and to blame Russia. Western countries, mainly the United States, have returned the allegation, arguing that Russia is lying and that it intends to use chemical weapons.
The factory’s emergency personnel and the State Emergency Service are responding to the leak, Zhyvytsky wrote.
It is noted that Sumy, near the Ukrainian-Russian border, receives daily Russian air raids.
Yesterday, Zivitsik said 71 children from a city orphanage had been safely transported after spending two weeks in a basement to protect themselves from Russian bombing.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
