Wide reporting on Russian soldiers affected by radiation, leaving Chernobyl

The UN atomic watchdog is investigating Ukrainian claims that Russian
soldiers occupying Chernobyl nuclear power station left after receiving
high doses of radiation. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said
it could not confirm the claims by Ukrainian state power company Energoatom
and was seeking an independent assessment.

Energoatom said the Russians dug
trenches in the forest inside the exclusion zone at the site of the
world’s worst nuclear disaster, and that the troops “panicked at the
first sign of illness” which “showed up very quickly” and began
preparing to leave.

The Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk,
also made the claim that Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest were
exposed to radiation, but it has not been independently verified. Some
reports have suggested the soldiers are being sent to a special medical
facility in Belarus after driving tanks through the “dead zone” around
the nuclear plant, kicking up radioactive dust.

Guardian 1st April
2022https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/01/russians-fled-chernobyl-with-radiation-sickness-says-ukraine-as-iaea-investigates

Russian forces that occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after
invading Ukraine have left the defunct plant, and suggested radiation
concerns had driven them away. Chernobyl is back under Ukraine control
after Russians forces formally give up the nuclear site.

The Ukrainian
state nuclear company said on Thursday most of the Russian forces that
occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after invading Ukraine have
left the defunct plant, and suggested radiation concerns had driven them
away.

Energoatom said it had also confirmed information that Russian troops
had built fortifications including trenches in the so-called Red Forest –
the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl. As a
result of concerns about radiation, “almost a riot began to brew among the
soldiers,” it said in the statement, suggesting this was the reason for
their unexpected departure.

Mirror 31st March 2022

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-chernobyl-back-under-ukraine-26606690

Energoatom also said reports were confirmed that the Russians dug trenches
in the Red Forest, the 10-square-kilometer (nearly four-square-mile) area
surrounding the Chernobyl plant within the Exclusion Zone, and received
“significant doses of radiation.” The Russian troops “panicked at the first
sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to
leave, the operator said. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Daily Mail 31st March 2022

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-10673113/Ukraine-nuclear-operator-Russian-troops-leave-Chernobyl.html

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, although there was no independent
confirmation of that.

Independent 1st April 2022