Ukraine is handing out anti-radiation pills because they are concerned about a Russia nuclear attack

Ukraine is reportedly handing out anti-radiation pills amid growing fears over a nuclear attack from Russia.

Kyiv city council has been distributing potassium iodine tablets which help to prevent absorption of radiation, NBC News reports.

The pills stop harmful waves entering the body via the thyroid gland when they’re taken close to nuclear radiation exposure.

Volodymyr Marchuk, the spokesman for the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, told the outlet that the tablets were being allocated to residents within 30 miles of the Enerhodar power plant.

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The news comes as the head of Ukraine‘s state nuclear energy company has announced he will take charge of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, in opposition to claims made by Moscow.

Potassium iodine tablets are being handed out in UkraineGetty/Pixabay

The Russian foreign ministry claimed the plant would operate under the supervision of Moscow agencies after president Putin formally annexed the wider region.

Energoatom chief Petro Kotin has also urged workers at the plant not to sign any documents with its Russian occupiers.

“All further decisions regarding the operation of the station will be made directly at the central office of Energoatom,” Kotin said in a video address posted on the Telegram messaging app.

Putin previously threatened to use “all the means at our disposal” if his country is threatened, seen as a sign that he could use tactical nuclear weapons in response to attacks on parts of Ukraine he has annexed.

Putin is “highly unlikely” to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict but he is not acting in a “rational” way, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace previously said.

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