An unknown number of Russian troops are withdrawing from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the direction of the Belarusian border, according to the Ukrainian state atomic energy agency, Energoatom. Employees still working at the plant, overseeing both the sarcophagus from the damaged reactor in 1986 and the nuclear waste, told Energoatom that the Russian forces were talking about withdrawing.
Hours later, this body said in a statement that “it is confirmed that the information that the occupants, who took over the plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have left in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus.”
The soldiers received “doses of radiation” and panic spread, according to Energoatom
Russian troops have also left Slavutich, the town where the plant’s staff resides; however, an unspecified “small number” of soldiers remain in Chernobyl.
According to Energoatom, the Russian troops had dug trenches in the so-called red forest, in the surroundings of the plant, but they would have received “significant doses of radiation”, for which they would have “paniced” and prepared the exit.
The Ukrainian government had repeatedly called for the withdrawal of the Russian army, whose presence –immediately with the invasion of February 24– had come to prevent the rotation of the plant’s personnel.
Precisely on Wednesday the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mariano Grossi, who visited Ukraine, stated that “we are trying to be very active in ensuring that the -nuclear- facilities return to the hands of the Ukrainians as soon as possible.” Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors spread over four plants, one of which, Zaporiya, remains controlled by the invading army. Russian technicians went to the plant a few days after it was occupied.
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