Ukrainian leadership accuses Russia of kidnapping up to 170 employees of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Russians held the workers at the nuclear plant hostage for nearly a month in the building’s air-raid shelter and then forcibly brought them to Russia, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj told US broadcaster CNN. Most of the Ukrainians’ valuables and phones were stolen.
So far there has been no reaction from the Russian side. The information could not be verified initially.
CNN also reports high levels of radiation in the so-called “Red Forest”, a radioactive exclusion zone near the nuclear plant that was destroyed in a major nuclear accident in 1986. In recent days, there have been several reports that Russian soldiers have dug trenches in the forest. and would have irradiated themselves in the process. (dpa/pa)