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Russian forces have cleared the area around Chernobyl, but Ukrainian officials are now sounding the alarm that troops were likely exposed to high levels of radiation after deliberately kicking up radioactive dust, reports on Saturday said.
Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, have been warning for weeks that Russian troops are kicking up radioactive dust after driving armored vehicles through an area known as the “red forest.”
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FILE – Ukrainian National Guard, Armed Forces, Special Forces train while simulating a crisis situation in an urban settlement in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine, February 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Mykola Tymchenko, file)
Drone footage showed that trenches were also being dug in “contaminated areas” throughout the exclusion zone, according to the BBC and New York Times.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it had not been able to independently verify reports that Russian forces had received “high doses” of radiation.
“It is of paramount importance that the IAEA travels to Chernobyl so that we can take urgent action to assist Ukraine in ensuring nuclear safety there,” said Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “I am in close consultation with our Ukrainian colleagues to organize such a visit as soon as possible.”
As of Friday, the nuclear watchdog still hadn’t had access to the site, but said it was the agency’s “priority to dispatch safety and protection personnel to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as soon as possible.”
RUSSIAN TROOPS DESTROYED DECADES OF CHERNOBYL DATA, UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS SAY
A satellite image with overlaid graphics shows military vehicles next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, February 25, 2022.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was besieged by Russian forces on the first day of the Moscow invasion on February 24.
While Ukrainian officials were still allowed to oversee the site, they had to deal with ill-informed Russian soldiers.
“We had to constantly negotiate with them and try not to offend them so that they allowed our staff to manage the facility,” engineer Valeriy Smonov told the BBC on Saturday.
Engineers explained that they were forced to take drastic measures to ensure the plant was working properly, even after being without power for three days.
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Radioactivity sign in Chernobyl outskirts 2019 closeup
Smonov said they were forced to hunt for fuel to keep the generators running – they reportedly stole some from Russian forces.
Russian troops have retreated from northern Ukraine back to Belarus and Russia. But US and NATO officials have repeatedly warned that this is merely a tactic to arm and resupply itself before focusing its efforts on eastern Ukraine.