All Russian troops who occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine have left the decommissioned plant, Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said. The troops headed toward Ukraine’s border with Belarus. “According to the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there are now no outsiders on site,” Energoatom said in a statement.
Illia Ponomarenko, defense reporter with The Kyiv Independent, confirmed that information on the ground: “Ukrainian airborne units regain control of the Chernobyl.”
Victor Kovalenko, Ukraine Army veteran officer, verified that before leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian officers forced the Ukrainian personnel to sign a fake military report that “the Russian Army was guarding the plant.” (Source: Ukrainian State Agency of Management of the Exclusion Zone.) The Russian troops also stole various valuable items including expensive nuclear laboratory equipment. (Source: Ukrainian State Agency of Management of the Exclusion Zone.)
Belarus authorities warned residents of Bragin town to avoid close contact with the retreating Russian soldiers who arrived from the Chernobyl exclusion zone due to possible radioactive contamination.
The Ukraine intelligence reports a confirmed death from Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) of the first Russian Army soldier. 73 soldiers have severe conditions suffering from this illness. They all were camping in the Red Forest near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, reports Victor Kovalenko.
Energoatom also said Russian troops got “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
About 150-210 employees spent 25 days working at the plant under siege of Russian soldiers. Olexei Shelestiy, a shift supervisor of the electrical shop at Chernobyl NPP, tells his story. “The most critical factor of anxiety at Chernobyl was uncertainty. We didn’t understand what they (the Russian military) wanted. We didn’t realize what was going on at all. What is this? Why is Kyiv being bombed if this is a special operation to rebuild the Donetsk and Luhansk regions?”
According to the IAEA Director General Statements on Situation in Ukraine: Ukraine told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was continuing preparations for a rotation of technical staff who have been working at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) for the past two weeks, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Russian forces withdrew from the plant three days ago after being in control of the site for five weeks. During that time only one change of staff on duty took place, on 20-21 March. Many NPP personnel live in the city of Slavutych outside the 30-kilometre Exclusion Zone set up after the 1986 accident. Ukraine said the preparatory work for the next rotation included an assessment of staff security.
Out of the country’s operational reactors, Ukraine said seven were operating, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, three at Rivne, and two at South Ukraine. The other reactors are shut down for regular maintenance, including both units at the Khmelnytskyy NPP, or held in reserve.
In relation to safeguards, the Agency said that the situation remained unchanged from that reported previously. The Agency was still not receiving remote data transmission from its monitoring systems installed at the Chornobyl NPP, but such data was being transferred to IAEA headquarters from the other NPPs in Ukraine.
Director General Grossi intends to head an IAEA assistance and support mission to Chornobyl as soon as it is possible, the first in a series of such nuclear safety and security missions he plans to send to the country, which has 15 operational nuclear energy reactors at four sites in addition to the Chornobyl plant. IAEA experts will provide both on-site and off-site technical assessment and advice. The IAEA will also deliver safety equipment, where needed.
This followed Director General Grossi’s detailed discussions and meetings earlier with senior Ukrainian government officials at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant on the concrete steps that need to be taken to deliver urgent technical assistance for nuclear safety and security in Ukraine.
The situation in Ukraine is critical and very dynamic during the war. Please follow the Ukrinform news agency and The Kyiv Independent for the latest updates. The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine is also providing experts’ information.