Kyiv. Russia’s military handed back control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site to Ukraine on Friday, leaving the site contaminated with radiation, Ukrainian officials said on Friday. Having taken Chernobyl long ago, war continues on the outskirts of Kyiv and on other fronts.
Ukraine’s state-run energy company, Energoatum, said soldiers were suffering radiation injuries from the closed plant, after which they left Chernobyl. However, this cannot be independently confirmed. Russian troops withdrew from Chernobyl at a time when there are indications that the Kremlin is trying to redeploy its forces to the country’s eastern side under the guise of negotiating a retreat in Ukraine. Is.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s withdrawal of troops from the country’s north and central parts was just a sham and was preparing for a major offensive in the southeast. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had received information from Ukraine that the Russian military had handed over control of Chernobyl to Ukraine in writing.
A Ukrainian government agency said on Friday the last troop of Russia’s military left the nuclear plant area. Energoatum did not give any detailed account of the condition of the soldiers and only said that they had suffered from radioactive radiation. It was also not stated how many soldiers were affected by the radiation. The Kremlin also did not comment on the subject and the IAEA said it could not confirm that Russian troops were affected by the radiation. Russian forces captured Chernobyl on 24 February in the initial phase of the attack.