Ukraine: sick soldiers seen fleeing Chernobyl

Russian troops are pulling out of Chernobyl after soldiers suffered acute radiation sickness from digging trenches in contaminated soil.

The giant protective dome built over the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Russian troops are pulling out of Chernobyl after soldiers suffered acute radiation sickness from digging trenches in contaminated soil.

Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, said yesterday that soldiers had received “significant doses of radiation” after they constructed trench fortifications in the Red Forest, a highly toxic area surrounding the defunct plant.

The site got its name when dozens of square miles of pine trees turned red after absorbing radiation from the 1986 explosion in a reactor, one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

The Russian troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to leave, Energatom said.

Seven busloads of Russian soldiers, believed to be suffering from the effects of acute radiation syndrome, arrived at the Belarusian Radiation Medicine Centre in Gomel, according to the Ukrainian news agency Unian.

Although Russian troops seized control of Chernobyl soon after the February 24 invasion, the plant’s Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the damaged reactor.

Energoatom said these workers had indicated earlier in the day that Russian forces were planning to leave. “The information is confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have set off in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus,” it said in a statement.

It said a small number of Russian troops remained at Chernobyl, but did not specify how many or give details. Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chernobyl live, it said.

Russian soldiers who seized the site drove their armoured vehicles without radiation protection through the Red Forest, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust, workers at the site said.

The two sources told Reuters that soldiers in the convoy did not use any anti-radiation equipment. The second Chernobyl employee said that was “suicidal” for the soldiers because the radioactive dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.

The Red Forest is considered so highly contaminated that even the nuclear plant workers are not allowed to go there. Valery Seida, acting general director of the Chernobyl plant, said: “Nobody goes there ... for God’s sake. There is no one there.”

Depending on the dose, radiation sickness can be fatal. Initial symptoms include burning skin, vomiting, diarrhoea and headaches. The exposed person will often then feel well for a period, after which symptoms may return in the form of seizures, fatigue and coma.

The cause of death in most cases is the destruction of bone marrow, which results in infections and internal bleeding.

Chernobyl and the surrounding area have largely been sealed off since the explosion and resulting fire caused radioactive contamination across Europe.

However, about 200 tonnes of fuel remain at the bottom of the crippled reactor, which remains relatively unprotected.

Last week the Ukrainian parliament reported that forest fires had been spotted within Chernobyl’s exclusion zone via satellite imagery taken by the European Space Agency.

The Times