The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidance on surviving a nuclear disaster just hours after the EU warned that Russia was “waging war with the West”.
Included in the guidance is a list of drugs that states should stockpile for “radiological or nuclear emergencies.”
The global health agency also shared how to deal with stockpiles that could “prevent or reduce exposure to radiation”.
dr Maria Neira, WHO acting deputy director-general, warned that governments must make treatments for radiation and nuclear exposure available quickly.
“It is important that governments are ready to protect the health of the population and respond immediately to emergencies,” she added.
Possible scenarios considered in the publication include radiological or nuclear emergencies at nuclear power plants, and intentional malicious uses of radioactive materials.
These emergencies could result in lethal doses of radiation, but according to the document, many countries are ill-prepared.
It stressed: “It is therefore extremely important that governments respond quickly to such threats.”
Putin’s “War on the West”
The document comes as Stefano Sannino, Secretary-General of the European Union’s External Action Service, announced today that Russia has shifted the focus of its invasion of Ukraine.
At a press conference in Tokyo as part of an Asia-Pacific tour, he said that Vladimir Putin “moved from a concept of a special operations to a concept of a war against NATO and the West.”
He also defended the recent decision by Germany and the US to send advanced tanks to Ukraine.
The EU does not want to escalate hostilities, but “only to provide an opportunity to save lives and allow Ukrainians to defend themselves against these barbaric attacks,” Sannino added.
Western allies have provided about 150 tanks to Ukraine to help ease casualties and restore dwindling ammunition supplies.
The Kremlin has described this as evidence of growing “direct involvement” by the United States and Europe in the 11-month-old war, which both deny.
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