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Russian troops took Chernobyl on February 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine.
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According to reports, the soldiers may have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.
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Ukraine regained control of the factory last week after Russian troops withdrew from areas around Kiev.
Russian soldiers appear to have had a laissez-faire attitude when they were stationed in Ukraine at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant — one of the most toxic places on Earth.
Since one of the worst nuclear disasters ever happened at the plant in 1986, it has been dangerously contaminated with radioactivity. Chernobyl was taken by Russian forces on February 24, the first day of the invasion, raising international concern. Ukraine regained control last week after Russia withdrew from areas around Kiev.
Valeriy Simyonov, chief safety engineer at Chernobyl, told The New York Times that Russian troops who took over the plant “came and did what they wanted” in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. He said the Russian military had brought its own nuclear experts to the plant, but their advice was not always followed.
For example, Russian troops dug into toxic soil and camped in the radioactive forest for weeks, The Times reported, adding that there are no confirmed cases of radiation sickness, but some health effects from exposure to nuclear weapons could last for years.
In another case, a Russian soldier picked up cobalt-60, a radioactive isotope, with his bare hands, The Times reported.
Ukrainian officials shared a video on Wednesday saying that Russia had dug trenches in the radioactive “Red Forest” of Chernobyl, calling it a “complete neglect of human life, even of its own subordinates.”
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state energy company, also said Russian troops have dug trenches and experienced signs of radiation sickness, prompting an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations watchdog group.
Read the original article on Business Insider
