Don’t sweat giant Chernobyl fire, Ukrane says

Hundreds of firefighters on Monday battled a forest blaze in Ukraine's Chernobyl exclusion zone while officials insisted there was no risk to the ruined reactor and nearby storage facilities for nuclear waste.

"There is no threat to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the storage facilities," Volodymyr Demchuk, a senior official from Ukraine's emergency service, said in a video statement late Monday.

The fire broke out 10 days ago at the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. 

Kiev has mobilized helicopters and more than 400 firefighters, with planes dropping tonnes of water on the fire.  Demchuk said firefighters are now focused on stopping the spread.

While forest fires are common in the exclusion zone, Greenpeace Russia said Monday that this is the worst since the 1986 nuclear explosion.