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A forest fire surrounding Chernobyl nuclear power plant is causing elevated radiation levels, authorities confirmed.

The blaze has spread to about 100 hectares (250 acres), head of Ukraine’s state ecological inspection service Yehor Firsov said.

The emergency services ministry sent 130 firefighters and two planes to put out the fire.

It said radiation levels had increased at the fire’s centre.

The blaze is within the 2,600-square kilometre (1,000-square mile) Chernobyl Exclusion Zone established after the 1986 disaster at the plant that sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe.

The zone is largely unpopulated, although about 200 people have remained there despite orders to leave.