The UN nuclear guard is investigating Ukrainian claims that Russian soldiers abandoned the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after receiving high doses of radiation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it could not confirm the claims made by Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Energoatom and was seeking an independent assessment.
Energoatom said the Russians had dug trenches in the forest inside the exclusion zone at the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster and that troops “panicked at the first sign of illness” which “came up very quickly” and began to focus on the prepare withdrawal.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk also claimed that Russian troops digging trenches in the forest were exposed to nuclear radiation, but this has not been independently confirmed.
Some reports suggest that the soldiers are being sent to a special medical facility in Belarus after driving tanks through the “dead zone” around the nuclear power plant, kicking up radioactive dust.
Russian troops also withdrew from the nearby town of Slavutych, where Chernobyl workers live, Energoatom said.
The IAEA said it was preparing to deploy its first “relief and assistance mission” to Chernobyl in northern Ukraine in the next few days.
Although Russian soldiers took control of Chernobyl soon after the invasion on February 24, Ukrainian workers at the power plant continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and monitor the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986, causing the world’s worst nuclear accident.
In a separate post, Energoatom said the Russian side had officially agreed to return responsibility for protecting Chernobyl to Ukraine. It shared a scan of a document signed by people it identified as senior Chernobyl workers and a Russian military official tasked with guarding Chernobyl. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the document.
Ukraine has repeatedly raised security concerns over Chernobyl and called for the withdrawal of Russian troops, whose presence at times prevented personnel rotation.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the reports of Chernobyl workers.