MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Kiev has been shrouded by a noxious cloud caused by a fire that continues to burn in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Andrey Smoliy, a journalist for the Ukrainian TV channel Espreso, reported.

"The situation in Kiev is crazy again. The capital is covered in a toxic cloud from Chernobyl - we can’t breathe! Residents of the capital, get off the streets and shut your windows. Levels of harmful particles are exceeding safe limits," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

In turn, the Obschestvennoye. Novosti news outlet reports that in some areas of Kiev, the air quality index is four times the normal level, which is hazardous to health.

Fires have been raging in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone for five days now, and efforts to extinguish them are being hindered by strong winds and high temperatures, according to Viktoria Ruban, head of the press office for the State Emergency Service in the Kiev Region.