Five weeks after taking the Chernobyl nuclear ruins, Russian troops began to withdraw from the restricted area in northern Ukraine. “This morning, the invaders declared their intention to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear energy company, said on Telegram today. Russian soldiers would now “march in two columns towards the Ukrainian-Belarusian border”.
A “small number” of Russian soldiers are still at the nuclear complex, Energoatom said. In addition, there is “evidence that a column of Russian soldiers besieging the town of Slavutysh is being formed, which is expected to move to Belarus.” Slavutysh is close to Chernobyl. The town near the Belarusian border is home to technicians working at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The US Department of Defense had already spoken yesterday about the withdrawal of Russian armed forces from the zone around the nuclear ruins. Russian forces took control of the Chernobyl nuclear ruins on February 24, the first day of their attack on Ukraine.