Ukraine claims Russian troops looted nuclear power plant and hotel in Chernobyl

As Russian forces left the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site early on Friday, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Emine Dzheppar, accused Putin's forces of looting the hazardous plant. According to Dzheppar, the Russian forces had not only looted the nuclear power plant but also ransacked a hotel situated in the same area. She alleged that the troops had stolen computers, other electronic devices, and carpets from the hotel. It is worth mentioning that the authorities on Friday confirmed that the Russian troops left the Chernobyl nuclear site, nearly two days after the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces accused Putin's troops of accumulating at ​​the nuclear site. As per Ukraine’s state power company, Energoatom, the Russian troops returned the control to the Ukrainians.

Energoatom said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. Though the International Atomic Energy Agency said it could not independently confirm the exposure claim, Yaroslav Yemelianenko, a council member of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, claimed that the Russian troops were falling ill. "Another batch of radiation irradiation of Russian terrorists who captured the Chernobyl zone, was brought to the Belarusian centre of radiation medicine in Gomel today," he wrote on Facebook. "Digging the trenches in the Rudu forest, bitches? Now live the rest of your short life with this. There are rules for handling this territory," he added. 

Chernobyl nuclear site

It is pertinent to mention here that the Russian forces had attacked the nuclear plant nearly four days after they started a full-fledged war against Ukraine. This raised grave concerns regarding the safety and security of the site. Since then, the Ukrainian government has been alleging that the Russian forces are not giving proper space to the plant officials to run the site properly, a claim that Moscow has denied multiple times. Notably, Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant has been undergoing decommissioning since the 1986 accident. According to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), significant amounts of nuclear material remain in various facilities at the site in the form of spent fuel and other radioactive waste. 

Image: AP