In the afternoon of 24 February, the first day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government announced that Russian forces had launched an attack to capture the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.[5] By the end of the day, the Ukrainian government further announced that Russian forces had captured Chernobyl and Pripyat.[6] It was reported that artillery shelling hit radioactive waste storage locations and an increase in radioactivity was allegedly observed.[7]