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Russians opened trenches on radio land near Chernobyl

2022-04-07 18:57:46Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Russians opened trenches on radio land near Chernobyl

A Ukrainian official has provided voice of America with exclusive photos of the aftermath of Russia's five-week aggression at the dismantled Chernobyl nuclear power plant, showing what he says are Russian trenches built on radioactive land near the site of a 1986 nuclear accident in that country.

Evgen Kramarenko, director of the Ukrainian state agency that manages the area banned around the Chernobyl plant, sent the photos to Voice of America on Wednesday, saying he had taken them himself during a visit to the plant with several of his colleagues the day before.

It was the first visit to the country by Mr. Kramarenko's team since Russian troops withdrew from the plant and surrounding area on March 31, ending the takeover that began on February 24, when Moscow launched a full-fledged aggression against its neighbour.

In a telephone interview with Voice of America, Mr. Kramarenko said the photos show trenches that Russian troops have opened using heavy machinery in a grassy field covering radioactive land near reactor No. 4 destroyed in the Chernobyl plant.

The explosion of that reactor on 26 April 1986 was the world's worst nuclear accident, killing 31 people from the immediate explosion and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate from surrounding communities, including Belarus. The forbidden area, created after the accident, lies about 30 kilometres from the Chernobyl plant.

Track marks from heavy vehicles can be seen in some of the trench photos.

The photos are the first non-satellite images from a Ukrainian government source to prove numerous reports, published last week, that invading Russian troops opened trenches, extracting radioactive dust.

In a March 31 statement, Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned company that operates the plant, said Russian troops had been exposed to "considerable doses of radiation" and withdrew from the country in panic by the first signs of the disease.

America's voice cannot independently verify the health status of Russian troops who invaded the Chernobyl plant and later retreated to Belarus, a key Russian ally that has allowed Moscow to use its territory to attack Ukraine. Russia has been silent on the condition of the troops.

Belarus-based science journalist Siarhei Besarab told Voice of America that the area around reactor No. Chernobyl's 4 is contaminated with the three most common types of radiation: alpha particles, beta particles and radiated gamma-ray earth.

"Given what we know about the area where Russian soldiers were digging, it is the most concentrated point with all three types of radiation," Mr. Besarab said.

The level of radiation poisoning of soldiers would depend on the time they spent in the area and the type of contact they had, he added.

Mr. Kramarenko said Russian soldiers who inhaled radioactive dust could experience a worsening of chronic diseases or new health problems in the coming months and years.

"If the Russians who retreated to Belarus took radioactive particles in their military clothes and equipment, it also creates a health problem for anyone approaching those objects," Mr. Kramarenko said.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine's Defense Ministry posted on Twitter video from a drone it said showed an aerial view of trenches that had been opened by Russians near the Chernobyl plant.

The tweet refers to the Red Forest, a forested area whose trees turned red after absorbing radiation from the 1986 explosion.

"The complete neglect of human lives, even of its subordinates, is the way a murderous state is presented," Ukraine's Defense Ministry wrote, referring to Russia.

The drone video originally appeared on Telegram. Her source was not clear.

In an article published on March 28, Reuters agency said it spoke to two Ukrainian persons working at the Chernobyl plant while it was under Russia's control. Without mentioning them, the report quoted the two people as saying that none of the Russian troops they saw were wearing any equipment that would protect them from radiation.


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