Russian soldiers remain in Chernobyl exclusion zone

April 2, 2022

Some Russian troops are still in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, a day after ending their occupation of the plant itself according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian forces occupied the defunct power station north of Kyiv soon after invading Ukraine on February 24.

On Thursday, Ukraine's state nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said Russian troops had left the plant and were heading towards the border with Belarus.

However on Friday, Yevhen Kramarenko, who heads the agency in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone said although Russian soldiers have left the site, some troops remain in the surrounding area.

"Russians were seen in the exclusion zone this morning," he said in a televised appearance.

Russian did not comment on the reported withdrawal from the plant, the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine would work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to establish what Russian troops did while in control of the Chernobyl site, which he warned had exposed them to dangerous levels of radiation.

"Russia behaved irresponsibly in Chernobyl on all accounts, from not allowing personnel of the station to perform their functions to digging trenches in the contaminated areas," Kuleba said on Friday.

The exclusion zone was established because of high radiation levels after a nuclear reactor exploded at the plant in April 1986.

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