Chairman of Ukraine’s Agency for Exclusion Zone Management: Demining of border areas of Chornobyl zone not a priority yet

Demining of the border areas of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is not yet a priority due to security risks from Belarus, said Hryhoriy Ischenko, Chairman of the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management.

"I am not ready to name specific timeframes [for demining] - only specialists can do this. However, it should be taken into account that the exclusion zone has a 150 km border with the Republic of Belarus, from there Russian troops entered to occupy both Kyiv region and the exclusion zone, and aggression came from there," Ischenko said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

The head of the Agency emphasized that even in the absence of active military actions, the potential threat remains. That is why the full-scale clearing of the border area from explosive objects is not yet considered a priority task.

"In my opinion, demining border areas is not the right time. However, those areas where fire prevention measures should be carried out should be demined, and the territory should be controlled to a certain extent," he added.

The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone was under the control of Russian occupation forces for over a month. The problem of mined territories there remains extremely acute.