The first to report the news was Yaroslav Yemelyanenko, a member of the Ukrainian Red Zone Agency. Then came the confirmation from the Ukrainian Nuclear Agency Energoatom. The Russian military who took control of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant at the start of the invasion of Ukraine weren’t wearing radiation suits when they arrived, particularly when they drove through a highly contaminated forest. And they remained seriously contaminated.
This was confirmed by various international media, citing two Ukrainian technicians at the plant present on the day of the arrival of the Russian troops. The soldiers would now be in Belarus, transported aboard a dozen buses and hospitalized in a specialized medical center. Many would be in very serious condition, with “acute symptoms of exposure to radioactive material”.
The dangers of the Red Forest
According to Ukrainian technicians it was a “suicide mission” for these soldiers. The “red forest,” so named because the treetops turned red from radiation following the 1986 catastrophic accident, has been declared “unsafe” for the next 24,000 years. Today there are tourist tours around the area but a permit is always required and only official guides are authorized who have equipment to measure the level of contamination and who know where to go. There are, in fact, still many radioactive points.
In the war in Ukraine, older generation nuclear power plants are the most dangerous weapon. Aiea: “Global damage”
GIACOMO GALEAZZI
The Belarusian “reassurances” and withdrawal from the area
Russian soldiers are routinely taken to the Belarusian Republican Research and Practice Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology. This was reported by the Belarusian media cited by Ukrainian Pravda, to diminish the alarm. But it is perhaps no coincidence that in the last few days Russian forces have been withdrawing from the Chernobyl nuclear site, which fell into Russian hands in the first days of the invasion at the end of February. Ever since then, the fears of experts have centered on the fact that safety standards within the area could be compromised.
Chernobyl generation fleeing the war: “You save us again, now with the children”
Flavia Amabile
