INTERNATIONAL: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has announced on Thursday .

The Chernobyl zone, the so called Chernobyl exclusion zone and all the structures of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are under the control of the Russian armed groups. According to the management of the Chernobyl exclusion zone and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant there have been no casualties, " Szmyhal has added.

An adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office , Mykhailo Podolyak has said the seizure of Cherobyl is " one of the most serious threats in Europe today."

Russian troops took over the power plant while Ukrainian forces battled them on three sides on Thursday after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.

Some Russian military massed in the Chernobyl "exclusion zone" before crossing into Ukraine early on Thursday, a Russian security source said.

Russia now control the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, a signal NATO not to interfere militarily.

The Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe in 1986 after a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant.

Decades later, it became a tourist attraction. About a week before the Russian invasion the Chernobyl zone was shut down for tourists.

"Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted shortly before the power plant was captured.

^{PHOTO: UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER DENYS SHMYHAL TALKING ABOUT RUSSIAN TROOPS CONTROLLING CHERNOBYL / SCREENSHOT OF TWEET BY PRESIDENT ZELENSKIY SAYING CHERNOBYL SEIZURE IS A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST THE WHOLE EUROPE / ADVISER TO THE UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE MYKHAILO PODOLYAK SAYING RUSSIA'S ATTACK ON UKRAINE MEANS RELATIONS BETWEN THE TWO COUNTRIES ARE OUT OF THE QUESTIONS}