Putin‘s men were struck down with radiation sickness after they camped in a forest near Chernobyl‘s nuclear disaster amid their infiltration of Ukraine last year.
Ukrainians living in Chernobyl have told of how they warned their Russian enemies of the dangers despite last year’s invasion, with soldiers even fishing in the nuclear reactor’s cooling chamber.
The Russian soldiers spent around a fortnight in the vicinity of the radioactive nuclear reactor in March last year, which 37 years ago exploded and spilled reactor core into the environment.
Ukrainians have told how the Russian men crossed from Belarus and dug defensive positions in the nearby ‘Red Forest’, named after the colour the trees turned after the nuclear disaster.
Some suggested that the Russians chose the area as they knew they would not come under attack from Ukrainian shelling.
Russian soldiers spent around fortnight in the vicinity of Chernobyl’s radioactive nuclear reactor in March last year
Ukrainians have told how the Russian men crossed from Belarus and dug defensive positions in the nearby ‘Red Forest’
Ukrainian servicemen attend a joint drills at the border with Belarus near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in the abandoned city of Pripyat, January 20, 2023
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Oksana Pyshna, 30, an official responsible for the exclusion zone, said ‘don’t try to find logic’ regarding the upheaval of radioactive soil by Putin’s men in Chernobyl’s nearby forest.
Russian soldiers are said to have spent two weeks with six mile vicinity of the radioactive reactor No 4, where they slept, ate, and drank.
‘It’s the most dangerous territory in the special zone, because under the ground we have nuclear waste.’
Some suggested that Russian troops made their base there as they knew Ukrainian forces would not attack the area as they knew the catastophic dangers around the nuclear plant.
The Russians are also said to have fished in the reactor’s cooling chamber, catching the catfish that swim in the destroyed nuclear base.
But others were struck down with radiation sickness from simply being in the area, walking around, and kicking up the dust.
The Sunday Times reported that some of the very few elderly locals who live in the area and have become significantly blasé about the dangers surrounding them where particularly shocked at how the Russians would act.
‘I think they understood the risks, but they’re just thick.’ 70-year-old Chernobyl local Galyna Voloshnya said.
Around two weeks after arriving in the area, the Russians left to mount the failed attack on Kyiv in early April, leaving Chernobyl to its hauntingly quiet state.
Employees of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant plant during the 37th anniversary of honoring the memory of the Chernobyl disaster victims on April 26, 2023
President Zelensky lays flowers at the memorial mound ‘To the Heroes of Chernobyl’ in Kyiv, April 26, 2023
Ukrainian servicemen attend joint drills at the border with Belarus, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine near Chornobyl, Ukraine, February 20, 2023
Two Ukrainian servicemen are seen last year at the border with Belarus, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine near Chornobyl, Ukraine February 20, 2023
A fire burns near Ukraine’s border with Belarus amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine near Chornobyl last year, February 20
To the east, in Moscow-annexed Crimea, fighting has now intensified after a suspected drone attack hit an oil depot as shelling deprived Russian border villages of power.
The recent attacks on Saturday came one day after Kyiv said preparations for a long-awaited counteroffensive were nearly complete, having vowed to expel Russian forces from territory they seized in the east and south following their 2022 invasion.
On Friday, a Russian strike on a block of flats in the central Ukrainian city of Uman killed 23 people, including a baby boy.
On Saturday, officials in Moscow-controlled Crimea, towns under Russian occupation in southern Ukraine reported attacks.
The governor of a Russian region near the border with Ukraine also said two people were killed when a Ukrainian missile hit a village.
‘As a result of the strike inflicted by Ukrainian nationalists, unfortunately, two civilians were killed,’ Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Bryansk oblast, said in a message posted on Telegram, reporting an attack on Suzemka.
Fears of Ukrainian reprisals more than a year into Moscow’s offensive have grown in Russia, where a range of cities have cancelled traditional May 9 celebrations to mark the Soviet victory over the Nazis at the end of World War II in 1945.
In Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, clouds of smoke rose high into the sky as fuel reserves burned.
The Crimean port city has been hit by a series of drone attacks since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago.