MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. The Ukrainian government has lost control over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exclusion zone established after the 1986 disaster, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said on Thursday.

"Unfortunately, I must day that the Chernobyl zone, the so-called zone of alienation, and the Chernobyl NPP were taken under the control of Russian troops," Shmygal said, adding that no victims were reported.

The Chernobyl zone of Alienation is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. Decades after the accident, it became a popular tourist attraction.