Russian forces destroyed decades of data stored at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) after forces occupied the area for 35 days, Ukrainian officials said this week.
“This is all that is left of our documents and archives in Chernobyl. What we have been collecting for decades, some prostitute has just been thrown in the trash,” said Oleksandr Syrota, chairman of the State Council under the State Service for Ukraine. the Exclusion Zone Management. in a translated Facebook post on Thursday.
An overview shows the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure above the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, November 22, 2018. (REUTERS / Gleb Garanich / File Photo)
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Government officials posted photos of rubbish bins allegedly full of documents along with images showing missing servers monitoring the area’s radiation levels.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Russian forces, who had occupied Chernobyl since the first day of the February 24 invasion, had evacuated the area.
Russian troops withdrew from Chernobyl last week after Russian negotiators said troops would withdraw from areas around the capital Kiev and the northern city of Chernihiv, about 55 miles from Chernobyl.
Ukraine told the IAEA on Thursday that it had begun “the process of resuming regulatory control of the nuclear power plant”.
The IAEA said it intended to visit the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster “as soon as it is possible to assess the state of radioactivity”.
Ukrainian National Guard, Armed Forces and Special Operations Units exercise as they simulate a crisis situation in an urban settlement in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, February 4, 2022. (AP Photo / Mykola Tymchenko, Archive)
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Ukrainian officials have been warning for weeks that unprotected Russian forces are launching clouds of radioactive dust, driving armored vehicles into an area known as the “Red Forest.”
Recent drone footage has reportedly shown that trenches had been dug in “contaminated areas” throughout the exclusion zone.
The nuclear watchdog said it could not independently verify reports that Russian forces had received “high doses of radioactivity”.
“It is of the utmost importance that the IAEA travel to Chernobyl so that we can take urgent action to help Ukraine ensure nuclear safety and security there,” said Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “I am in close consultation with our Ukrainian counterparts to arrange such a visit as soon as possible.”
A Ukrainian soldier stands on a ruined bridge between the village of Dytiatky and Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 5, 2022.
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Eight of Ukraine’s nuclear reactors remain in operation, including two reactors under the control of Russian-occupied forces in Zaporizhzhya. The others remain closed for “regular maintenance”.
