Russian soldiers who occupied the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine are reported to have passed through the most contaminated area, known as the Red Forest, without any protective measures. As added, the military may suffer from radiation sickness.
Reuters contacted two employees of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who were supposed to be on site on the day of its capture by Russian troops (February 24). According to the interlocutors of the agency, the soldiers, moving through the Red Forest on heavy military equipment, caused the rise of radioactive dust from the soil. On March 25, the State Atomic Energy Inspectorate of Ukraine noted this – it was reported that the level of radiation control near Chernobyl had been increased.
“Entering the Red Forest was ‘suicide’ for Russian soldiers, as a result of radioactive substances entering their bodies,” a power plant worker said, quoted by Reuters.
The agency was unable to independently determine what level of radiation was recorded in people who were then in close proximity to the Red Forest.
The Red Forest is located about 2 km south of the displaced city of Pripyat, in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in northern Ukraine. The name of the forest comes from the reddish color of the trees that died from absorbing a large dose of radiation after the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. The Red Forest region is considered one of the most polluted areas in the world.