Putin’s men were stricken with radiation sickness after camping in a forest near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster during their infiltration into Ukraine last year.
Ukrainians living in Chernobyl have told 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 about two weeks in March last year near the radioactive nuclear reactor, which exploded 37 years ago and leaked the 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 color the trees changed after the nuclear disaster.
Some suggested that the Russians chose the area because they knew they would not be attacked by Ukrainian shelling.
Trenches and firing positions are located in the highly radioactive soil next to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine April 16, 2022
Drone footage shows an aerial view of the trenches dug by the Russian occupiers, mainly located in the ‘Red Forest’
Ukrainians have told how the Russian men crossed from Belarus and dug defensive positions in the nearby ‘Red Forest’
Ukrainian soldiers attend a joint exercise on the border with Belarus near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the abandoned city of Pripyat, January 20, 2023
Speak against The Sunday timessaid Oksana Pyshna, 30, an official in charge of the exclusion zone, “try not to find logic” regarding the turning of radioactive soil by Putin’s men in the nearby Chernobyl forest.
Russian soldiers are said to have spent two weeks near radioactive reactor No. 4, six miles, where they slept, ate and drank.
“It’s the most dangerous area in the Special Zone because we have nuclear waste underground.”
Some suggested that Russian forces made their base there, knowing that Ukrainian forces would not attack the area, knowing the catastrophic dangers surrounding the nuclear power plant.
The Russians also allegedly fished in the reactor’s cooling chamber and caught the catfish swimming in the destroyed nuclear base.
But others were struck with radiation sickness just by being around, walking around and kicking up the dust.
The Sunday times reported that some of the very few elderly locals living in the area who have become considerably blasé about the dangers surrounding them were particularly shocked by the way the Russians would act.
“I think they understood the risks, but they’re just fat.” So said 70-year-old Galyna Voloshnya from Chernobyl.
About two weeks after arriving in the area, the Russians left to launch the failed attack on Kiev in early April, leaving Chernobyl in a frighteningly quiet state.
Russian soldiers spent about two weeks in March last year near Chernobyl’s radioactive nuclear reactor
Chernobyl staff tried to keep Russian troops out of the most dangerous areas during last year’s invasion, but many dug trenches anyway
Employees of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during the 37th anniversary of the commemoration of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster 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 exercises on the border with Belarus amid the Russian attack on Ukraine near Chernobyl, Ukraine, February 20, 2023
Two Ukrainian servicemen are seen on the border with Belarus last year, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine near Chernobyl, Ukraine on February 20, 2023
A fire burns near Ukraine’s border with Belarus amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine near Chernobyl last year, February 20
In the east, in Moscow-annexed Crimea, fighting has now intensified after a suspected drone strike hit an oil depot while shelling power-poor Russian border villages.
The recent attacks on Saturday came a day after Kiev said preparations for a long-awaited counter-offensive were nearly complete after it vowed to expel Russian forces from territory they had taken to the east and south following their 2022 invasion.
A Russian attack on an apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday killed 23 people, including a boy.
On Saturday, officials in Moscow-controlled Crimea, cities 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.
“Unfortunately, two civilians were killed as a result of the attack by Ukrainian nationalists,” Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Bryansk oblast, said in a Telegram message, reporting an attack on Suzemka.
Fears of Ukrainian reprisals more than a year after the Moscow offensive have increased in Russia, where a number of cities have canceled traditional May 9 celebrations to mark the Soviet Union’s victory over the Nazis at the end of World War II. World War in 1945.
In Sevastopol, home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, clouds of smoke rose high as fuel reserves burned.
The Crimean port city has been hit by a series of drone strikes since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began more than a year ago.