there Red wood is a forest area located less than a kilometer from the former Chernobyl nuclear complex: when the nuclear disaster happened in 1986, it was one of the areas with the highest concentration of radioactive material. For this reason, access to many areas of the forest is now prohibited. This highly toxic area would have been traversed by Russian soldiers aboard armored vehicles but without any protection, raising clouds of radioactive dust, two site workers tell Reuters. According to one of the two witnesses, it would have been a “suicidal” move. Increases in radiation levels at Chernobyl were registered by Ukraine’s State Nuclear Inspectorate in late February, and the cause is precisely the passage of tanks in the area. Confirmation would come from the two witnesses who were present at the scene as members of the staff responsible for the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and overseeing the reactor’s cementlined remains. One said he saw troops moving through a deserted road in the Red Forest, in violation of Ukrainian law that makes it a crime to enter the disaster site without a permit. Both preferred to remain anonymous and Reuters could not independently verify their account. The Russian Defense Ministry declined to comment.
