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Ukraine is ground zero for the expansion of the U.S.-Russia proxy war, (and the war industry is jubilant)

This six-week war surely has left the war industry jubilant. In Washington, Biden recently proposed what would be the largest U.S. “defense” budget in history, more than $813 billion.

The U.S. Has Its Own Agenda Against Russia  Ukraine is ground zero for the expansion of the U.S.-Russia proxy war. The Intercept,   Jeremy Scahill, April 2 2022   Ever since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, there has been an unprecedented cohesion of messaging emanating from the U.S. government, its NATO and other European allies, and large segments of the Western media establishment. As massive quantities of weapons pour into Ukraine, there has been consistent media and political agitation for President Joe Biden and other Western leaders to “do more” or answer for why they are not further escalating the situation, including through the imposition of a no-fly zone.

The White House smells Putin’s blood in the waters of his disastrous invasion. The flow of weapons, the sweeping sanctions, and other acts of economic warfare are ultimately aimed not just at defending Ukraine and making the regime pay for the invasion in the immediate present, but also setting in motion its downfall. “For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said during his recent visit to Poland. The White House sought to walk back the line and clarify that it did not constitute a change in policy but was merely an expression of the president’s righteous anger. The kerfuffle over what Biden really meant is less important than the very public actions of the U.S. and its allies.

It should not be assumed that the strategies and actions being employed by Washington and its allies in their proxy war against Moscow will always be in the best interest of Ukraine or its people. Likewise, Ukraine’s calls for military support and action from the West — however justifiable and sincere they are — may not be in the best interest of the rest of the world, particularly if they increase the likelihood of nuclear war or World War III. The desire to avoid this scenario by advocating for a negotiated solution to the war that addresses Russia’s stated concerns or its rationale for the invasion is not a capitulation to Putin and it is not appeasement. It is common sense.

While the fate of Ukraine and the lives of its civilian population are evoked in calls for more escalatory action from the West, it is these very people who will suffer and die in large numbers every day the war drags on. Western media coverage is often crafted to portray only one outcome as acceptable: a decisive Ukrainian victory, in which the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy emerges from the horrors of the Russian invasion in complete control of all of its territory, including Crimea and the Donbas region. Ukraine, as a free and independent state, should be free to join NATO, and Russia has no legitimacy in questioning the implications of such a move. Advocacy for accepting anything short of this outcome is a victory for Russia and therefore traitorous to even consider………………

The routine belligerence exhibited by countless politicians, pundits, and media figures about taking the fight to Putin in Ukraine is largely chickenhawkery. …………

 when you listen to the fine details of Ukraine’s own negotiators and leaders, it’s clear that they understand that the war does not end with the swift annihilation of Putin, the downfall of Russia, or with a clean and complete Ukrainian retention of its territorial sovereignty. That’s why Zelenskyy’s government has acknowledged that the issue of NATO membership, a formalized neutrality status, and an internationally brokered process on the status of Crimea will all be on the table.

There has been much noise about Russia’s recent indications that it was drawing down its military actions in parts of Ukraine, particularly around the capital Kyiv. The U.S. and NATO have acknowledged a partial drawdown but asserted that Russian forces appear to be repositioning, likely for use in the east. Russia has also said as much itself. Moscow’s position is that “the main goals of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished.”

There is a peculiar dynamic surrounding the analysis of Putin’s comments on his intentions for Ukraine. He is accused of lying when his remarks undermine the U.S. narrative, but we are told to believe he is absolutely telling the truth when his pugnacious threats bolster the U.S. position.

Whether or not Putin intended to seize all of Ukraine and become an imperial occupier, he did seem to believe his invasion could cause the Ukrainian government to collapse and its leaders to flee in fear. That did not happen. Instead, U.S. and NATO-armed Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv have fought the Russian troops ferociously and inflicted significant losses against them on the battlefield. At the same time, by opening multiple fronts, Moscow forced Ukraine to defend vital territory, including its capital. This strategy exacted a tremendous human toll on the Russian military, but it did take some heat off Russian forces in the Donbas territories in the east, which Putin has cited as his territorial priority in the operation.

But the question of Putin’s original intent — to take Kyiv or to use that threat as a strategy to spread Ukraine’s defenses thin — is now largely irrelevant except in the rhetorical battlespace focused on Russian weakness, incompetence, or failure.

The most contentious issue in the negotiations to end the war will likely have little to do with NATO membership. Zelenskyy has already conceded that to end the war Ukraine will have to drop that ambition and adopt a neutral and nonaligned status, though he does want to continue the pursuit of joining the European Union.  Russia will certainly oppose any attempts for Kyiv to win a backdoor “Article 5” status that could trigger defense of Ukraine by Western powers in cases of future military actions by Moscow. Ukraine has suggested that it would also want China and Turkey to be a part of such a guarantee, not just adversaries of Russia. There are indications that the U.S. doesn’t think the proposal is viable, and Britain’s deputy prime minister bluntly stated, “Ukraine is not a NATO member,” adding, “We’re not going to engage Russia in direct military confrontation.”

Based on the reports out of the recent negotiations in Turkey, it seems that the most incendiary questions will revolve around the breakaway republics in the Donbas region. Ukraine has effectively said it wants a return to the pre-invasion status quo, which would mean erasing the Putin-recognized declarations of independence from Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia, which is currently expanding its control over the Donbas and seizing more territory, is unlikely to agree. This dynamic more than any other could delay or block any meaningful resolution and would be a central focus in a potential summit between Zelenskyy and Putin.

Once there is a brokered agreement, the flow of Western weapons into Ukraine and Russian military support for the separatists will result in a constant state of war footing for many years to come. A cloud portending more fighting and bloodshed will remain hovering over eastern Ukraine. If U.S. and other NATO troops resume their training exercises in Ukraine, as Biden has indicated they should, this means that there will always be a risk of incidents that could quickly escalate.

This six-week war surely has left the war industry jubilant. In Washington, Biden recently proposed what would be the largest U.S. “defense” budget in history, more than $813 billion. Germany and other European countries are publicly committing to buying and selling more weapons and spending more on defense. NATO is raising the prospect of expanding its permanent military presence in Europe and Washington is reasserting its political dominance over Europe on security matters.

But despite the image of global unity of cause being promoted by the U.S. and its NATO allies, several large and powerful nations, including China, India, Indonesia, and NATO member Turkey, are not marching to Washington’s drumbeat — not in the proxy-war business and not in the policy of sanctioning and vilifying Russia.

The overt war in Ukraine will have to end at the negotiating table. But the proxy war is escalating and will have consequences that extend far beyond the current battlefield.  https://theintercept.com/2022/04/01/russia-ukraine-proxy-war-washington-diplomacy/

April 5, 2022 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ending Ukraine’s suffering. The decision to negotiate this is up to Ukraine, not USA

Putin, The Nuclear Threat, And Ending The War: To Squeeze Or Not To Squeeze? Michael Krepon, Forbes, 4 Apr 22,

To squeeze or not to squeeze. That is the question that tries analytically minded souls…………..

 ………..The majority view among the punditocracy counsels a negotiated settlement. One concern is that if Putin feels cornered, he could do something everyone will regret — like using a nuclear detonation in war. Even if he doesn’t, the longer this war lasts, the more Ukrainian city blocks will be reduced to rubble.  

………….most analysts argue that we ought to give Putin a face-saving exit, which means conceding Ukrainian territory to Russia. How much territory to concede would be a hard issue in any negotiated settlement.

………. the deciding vote on the question of to squeeze or not to squeeze belongs to the government and people of Ukraine. It’s their land, their casualty counts, and their cities. NATO is obliged to take its cues from Volodymyr Zelensky. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkrepon/2022/04/04/putin-the-nuclear-threat-and-ending-the-war-to-squeeze-or-not-to-squeeze/?sh=51ec25776109

April 5, 2022 Posted by | politics international, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ukraine planning to resume control of Chernobyl nuclear site, as Russians withdraw

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been notified by Ukraine
that it is examining the possibility to resume regulatory control of the
Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), after the withdrawal of the Russian
military from the site.

Ukraine also informed IAEA that it is also planning
to rotate staff members at the Chornobyl NPP but did not specify any date.
Last week, Ukraine told IAEA: “Russian forces were leaving the Chornobyl
NPP after controlling the site for five weeks.

The withdrawal was confirmed
by senior Russian officials at a meeting with Director General Grossi in
the Russian city of Kaliningrad on Friday morning. “Ukraine later told
the IAEA that while all Russian forces had left the NPP site, the situation
in the Exclusion Zone around the plant was unclear.

 Power Technology 4th April 2022

https://www.power-technology.com/news/ukraine-chornobyl-nuclear-plant/

April 5, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Chernobyl: radiation sickness in soldiers, theft of radioactive materials, wildfires – a frightening case of the multiple dangers of nuclear power.

Russian soldiers in Chernobyl suffering from radiation poisoning, Several Russian soldiers in Chernobyl have fallen sick with radiation sickness after digging trenches in contaminated  forests, news.com.au , Katie Davis and The Sun, 1 Apr 22,

 Dozens of Russian troops stationed at the Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine have reportedly been struck down with radiation sickness after digging trenches in the contaminated forests.

Seven buses of soldiers suffering from acute radiation syndrome were taken from the exclusion zone to a hospital across the border in Belarus, The Sun reports.

Chernobyl was captured in the opening days of the current invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops. However it was the site of a nuclear disaster in 1986 when a reactor exploded, contaminating the surrounding area.

As Russian soldiers took hold of the site, it sparked fears of a major radioactive disaster as a result of heavy fighting around the plant

Already, just three days after entering the area, the disturbing of soil by military vehicles saw radiation levels spike.

It also has been alleged Russian troops dug trenches in the highly toxic Red Forest zone, according to UNIAN News Agency.

And according to workers at the site, Russian soldiers drove their tanks and armoured vehicles without radiation protection through the area – kicking up clouds of radioactive dust.

A Chernobyl employee branded their actions as “suicidal” because the dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.

The two Ukrainian sources said soldiers in the convoy did not use any anti-radiation gear while in the Red Forest – the most contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl.

Dozens of Russian troops stationed at the Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine have reportedly been struck down with radiation sickness after digging trenches in the contaminated forests.

Seven buses of soldiers suffering from acute radiation syndrome were taken from the exclusion zone to a hospital across the border in Belarus, The Sun reports.

Chernobyl was captured in the opening days of the current invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops. However it was the site of a nuclear disaster in 1986 when a reactor exploded, contaminating the surrounding area.

As Russian soldiers took hold of the site, it sparked fears of a major radioactive disaster as a result of heavy fighting around the plant.

Already, just three days after entering the area, the disturbing of soil by military vehicles saw radiation levels spike.

It also has been alleged Russian troops dug trenches in the highly toxic Red Forest zone, according to UNIAN News Agency.

And according to workers at the site, Russian soldiers drove their tanks and armoured vehicles without radiation protection through the area – kicking up clouds of radioactive dust.

A Chernobyl employee branded their actions as “suicidal” because the dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies. The two Ukrainian sources said soldiers in the convoy did not use any anti-radiation gear while in the Red Forest – the most contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl.

Yaroslav Yemelianenko, an employee at the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, said Russian troops were taken to the Belarusian centre of radiation medicine in Gomel.

“Digging the trenches in the Rudu forest?” he wrote on Facebook. “Now live the rest of your short life with this.

“There are rules of handling this territory. They are mandatory to perform because radiation is physics – it works regardless of status or chases………………

Radioactive material stolen from Chernobyl

Earlier this week, it was reported that radioactive material was stolen from the site of the damaged nuclear power station…………………….

Ukraine’s State Agency blamed Russian troops for stealing “unstable” nuclear samples from Chernobyl after ransacking a lab.

They are believed to have then destroyed the November Central Analytical Laboratory which was full of nuclear waste and located in the radioactive exclusion zone.

The agency said the stolen radionuclides are “highly active”…………

Just last week, wildfires around Chernobyl sparked by Russian shelling scorched 10,000 hectares of forest.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk accused Russia of “irresponsible” acts around the Chernobyl power station as she urged the United Nations to dispatch a mission to assess the risks.

She claimed Russian forces were preventing firefighters from bringing large numbers of fires in the zone under control……….

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Lyudmila Denisova warned an increased level of radioactive air pollution could threaten neighbouring countries.

“Control and suppression of fires is impossible due to the capture of the exclusion zone by Russian troops,” she wrote on Facebook.

“As a result of combustion, radionuclides are released into the atmosphere, which are transported by wind over long distances. This threatens radiation to Ukraine, Belarus and European countries.”

The politician warned that failing to intervene could see “irreparable consequences” for “the whole world”.

“Catastrophic consequences can be prevented only by immediate de-occupation of the territory by Russian troops,” Ms Denisova said…………   https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/russian-soldiers-in-chernobyl-suffering-from-radiation-poisoning/news-story/d98c53269a9602841331453438c482dd

April 2, 2022 Posted by | incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Anxieties at Varash nuclear power station, and other ones in Ukraine – ”town smells of fear”

Ukraine worries about disaster as Russia targets nuclear power plants, WP, By Max Bearak, 1 Apr 22, VARASH, Ukraine — The director of the largest nuclear power plant still under Ukrainian control was exhausted, curt with his replies and fidgeting with his glasses, which he turned around and around in his hands.

In the past two weeks, Ukraine’s military said it has shot down two Russian drones that approached as close as three miles from the plant in the northwestern city of Varash, which supplies 12 percent of the country’s electricity — but that wasn’t even the biggest of Pavlo Pavlyshyn’s concerns.

…………..  Chernobyl, while decommissioned, houses thousands of spent cooling rods that if not properly cared for could lead to an increase in radioactive leaking at the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster 36 years ago……………

…………Militarization wasn’t the only threat. Ukrainian staff at the plant haven’t had a day off since March 20 and are barely getting sleep. A power outage could disrupt the ventilation system and lead to overheating.

……………At Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, near Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine — which has been under Russian occupation since March 4 — Galushchenko said between 300 and 500 Russian soldiers and as many as 100 heavy vehicles including tanks were stationed within the plant’s perimeter. To take control of that plant, Russian forces fired artillery shells into one of the cooling units.

Besides the one in Varash, two other smaller Ukrainian plants are still under Ukrainian control. More than half of Ukraine’s electricity is provided by nuclear plants, and despite being under Russian control, the plant in Zaporizhzhia is still supplying the Ukrainian grid, though at a reduced capacity. Electricity consumption is also down across the country ……………

Varash, on the other hand, is carrying on much as usual. The town’s 8,000-plus plant workers are exempt from conscription into the military. Few have fled. Buses carrying workers to and from the plant, which looms over the whole city, bounce along wide boulevards while their families go about their daily lives.

The plant, which was built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s, is the entire reason for the city’s existence. About 30 miles south of the border with Belarus, Varash is otherwise relatively secluded and in one of the few areas of Ukraine that is still largely forested.

Here, residents worry about a reckless Russian attempt to take over the plant or even an errant shell causing a release of radiation.

City officials are already taking steps to prepare, including giving 50,000 residents potassium iodide tablets — which can help block the absorption of radioactive iodine in humans during prolonged exposure.

The mayor, Oleksandr Menzul, 49, worked for 25 years as a safety adviser at the plant, planning for various scenarios that could trigger a meltdown.

“We never estimated risk of Russian shelling,” he said. “Because it’s nonsense, right? Varash doesn’t even have bomb shelters, because who would bomb a city with a nuclear facility? But for Russia, an international disaster is just one mistake away…..

Menzul calms himself with the possibility that in the event of a disaster in Varash, prevailing winds might carry the worst of the radioactive steam from a blast into nearby Belarus or areas of Ukraine now occupied by Russia.

“If it blows in the enemy’s direction, at least there is some benefit to us,” he said, nervously chuckling.

This week, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Ukraine to offer technical assistance, meeting with Galushchenko and other top officials.

“There have already been several close calls. We can’t afford to lose any more time,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the agency’s head, said in a statement. “This conflict is already causing unimaginable human suffering and destruction. The IAEA’s expertise and capabilities are needed to prevent it from also leading to a nuclear accident.”

But Ukrainian officials have criticized the IAEA for not directly calling out Russia, which they say would bring more attention to the risks at nuclear facilities that, if shelled or otherwise damaged by Russia, could lead to a disaster with regional and potentially global implications.

The recent shooting down of two Russian drones over Varash — which was confirmed by Vitaly Koval, the regional military administrator — has raised questions about Russia’s possible surveillance of plants that are far from the front line.

The city is on edge. Despite being accompanied by a minder from the local government, visiting reporters were questioned by law enforcement. Citizens were apparently worried that the journalists could be Russian saboteurs.

It also is a city filled with memorials to past disasters. A monument to the Chernobyl victims stands prominently in the city center. Not far away is one to the victims of World War II. And a memorial to those killed in the ongoing war is already being planned.

“It should be a peaceful town, but it smells of fear,” the local minder said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/31/nuclear-power-plant-ukraine-danger/

April 2, 2022 Posted by | safety, social effects, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Head of IAEA to visit Chernobyl, as Russians withdraw from the site

UN nuclear watchdog to head mission to Chernobyl as Russians withdraw from site

Russians leaving Chernobyl have taken Ukraine soldiers with them, say officials   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/01/russians-fled-chernobyl-with-radiation-sickness-says-ukraine-as-iaea-investigates      Jon Henley, Fri 1 Apr 2022 22

The head of the UN atomic watchdog has said he aims to lead a mission to Chernobyl as soon as possible, after Russian troops were reported to have largely withdrawn from the decommissioned nuclear power station.

Rafael Grossi tweeted on Friday that he would head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “assistance and support” mission to the highly contaminated site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in the first of a series of such visits to Ukrainian nuclear plants.

The announcement came after Ukrainian officials said the Russian soldiers who had occupied the highly contaminated plant since 24 February – the first day of the invasion – had left taking several Ukrainian service personnel with them. Some Russians remained in the surrounding exclusion zone, they said.

The Ukrainian state power company Energoatom alleged that the pullout followed a number of Russian soldiers receiving “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone, a claim the IAEA said it could not independently confirm but would investigate.

Energoatom said the troops had “panicked at the first sign of illness”, which “showed up very quickly”. Chernobyl’s No 4 reactor exploded on 26 April 1986, killing hundreds and spreading radioactive contamination west across Europe.

The IAEA said earlier on Friday Kyiv had informed it that Russia had transferred control of the site back to the Ukrainians charged with overseeing the safe storage of spent fuel rods and maintaining the concrete-encased ruins of the reactor.

But the UN agency said it could not independently confirm the claim that the Russian soldiers, whose capture of the plant raised fears around the world of increased radiological risks, had been exposed to radiation.

Energoatom did not say how many soldiers were involved and gave no details of how they had been affected. The Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk also said Russian troops were exposed to radiation after digging trenches in the forest.

Some Ukrainian reports have suggested the soldiers were taken to a special medical facility in nearby Belarus after driving tanks through the exclusion zone, kicking up radioactive dust. The Kremlin has not commented on the claims.

Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Associated Press on Friday it seemed unlikely a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but added that it was impossible to know for sure without more details.

Citing plant workers, Energoatom said in a statement on Friday that the “Russian occupiers, as they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, took members of the national guard, whom they had held hostage since 24 February, with them”.

The Ukrainian government had repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chernobyl and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops, whose presence prevented the normal rotation of personnel for several weeks.

Russian forces also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where Chernobyl workers lived, Energoatom said, and the IAEA said it was preparing to send its first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl within the next few days.

Grossi was due to hold talks with senior Russian officials in Kaliningrad on Friday after visiting a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday on his first trip to the country since the invasion.

The IAEA chief, who has repeatedly warned of the dangers of the conflict – Ukraine has 15 reactors at four active nuclear power plants, as well as stores of nuclear waste at Chernobyl and elsewhere – was expected to hold a press conference at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna later on Friday.

April 2, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

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

April 2, 2022 Posted by | health, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Russian troops pull out out of Chernobyl after suffering ”acute radiation sickness”

Russian troops have pulled out of Chernobyl and handed control back to
Ukrainian authorities after soldiers suffered acute radiation sickness from
digging trenches in contaminated soil. Energoatom, Ukraine’s state
nuclear energy company, said that soldiers had received “significant
doses of radiation” after they constructed trench fortifications in the
Red Forest, a highly toxic area surrounding the defunct plant.

 Times 1st April 2022

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sick-russian-soldiers-seen-fleeing-chernobyl-ztcwvgzwg

April 2, 2022 Posted by | health, Ukraine | Leave a comment

UN nuclear watchdog chief in Ukraine for safety talks

UN nuclear watchdog chief in Ukraine for safety talks  https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2022-03-un-nuclear-watchdog-chief-in-ukraine-for-safety-talks

The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi visited Ukraine on Tuesday unannounced to start providing assistance including experts and equipment aimed at keeping nuclear facilities there safe in the midst of war, apparently without Russia’s blessing.   March 30, 2022 by Charles Digges

The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi visited Ukraine on Tuesday unannounced to start providing assistance including experts and equipment aimed at keeping nuclear facilities there safe in the midst of war, apparently without Russia’s blessing.

Grossi’s visit comes as seasonal wildfires are ripping unchecked through the irradiated area surrounding Chernobyl, the defunct nuclear power plant that was seized by Russian troops on February 24. Ukrainian officials have said the blazes within the 2,600 square kilometer exclusion zone around the disaster site could bear radiation aloft to surrounding territories and across borders.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, Grossi has called on both countries to agree a framework to ensure nuclear facilities, including spent nuclear fuel storage facilities at Chernobyl and Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhya, are kept safe and secure.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Grossi has so far failed to obtain such an agreement or even a three-way meeting with Ukraine and Russia. He had hoped to convene one at Chernobyl, which like Zaporizhzhya continues to be held under Russian control. He met the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers separately in Turkey almost three weeks ago.

On Wednesday Grossi appeared to make some progress, posting on Twitter that he had met with Ukraine’s energy minister and the head of Energoatom, the state company that oversees the country’s nuclear industry.

IAEA’s on-site presence will help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident that could have severe public health and environmental consequences in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi wrote.

On Monday, Lyudmila Denisova, commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for human rights said the wildfires around Chernobyl have led to an increased level of radioactive air pollution that could threaten neighboring European countries.

She attributed the fires to Russian combat in the region, saying 31 blazes have been recorded, and she called on the IAEA to send firefighters and equipment to help tackle them.

“Control and suppression of fires is impossible due to the capture of the exclusion zone by Russian troops,” Denisova wrote in a Facebook post Sunday. “As a result of combustion, radionuclides are released into the atmosphere, which are transported by wind over long distances.”

The IAEA’s Grossi has not yet commented on the blazes, but their presence contributed to fears of yet more mishaps as Ukraine’s nuclear infrastructure falls under Russian fire.

Since the Chernobyl plant fell into Russian hands, nearby combat has cut power to the site twice, jeopardizing cooling processes for 22,000 spent nuclear fuel rods stores on plant territory. Ventilation is also required to tamp down radiation levels below the New Safe Confinement, a giant steel dome that was installed over the sarcophagus of Chernobyl’s Unit Four reactor, which exploded in 1986.

Power has since been restored, but the IAEA has reported it no longer has access to data transmitted by radiation sensors at the site.

At the Zaporizhzhya plant, a March 4 rocket strike destroyed a training laboratory. Like Chernobyl, the Zaproizhzhya’s plant’s staff is now essentially hostage to invading Russian forces – a situation that worries the IAEA. Since then, the Russian military has detonated ordinance at the plant that remained unexploded during its attack. The IAEA said that both the reactors and radiation levels remained safe after that incident.

Russians have also twice shelled the site of a US funded research reactor and nuclear research facility in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The reactor’s fuel had reportedly been withdrawn prior to the onset of war and the IAEA said chances for an uncontrolled chain reaction at the site are low.

He also visited the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, whose three reactors are thought to be in the crosshairs of advancing Russian troops.

March 31, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

7 wildfires in Chernobyl Exclusion zone exceed Ukraine’s emergency classification tenfold.

 Seven wildfires have broken out in the exclusion zone surrounding the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear
disaster, according to a statement by Ukraine’s Parliament. The fires,
which were observed via satellite, exceed Ukraine’s emergency
classification criteria tenfold.

Ukrainian officials stated that the fires
were caused by “the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, namely
the shelling or arson,” though this has not been independently verified.
Wildfires risk mobilizing and dispersing radioactive contaminants left over
from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

 Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 23rd March 2022

Wildfires break out in Chernobyl amid a non-functioning radiation-monitoring system

March 31, 2022 Posted by | climate change, incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense warns on radioactivity danger from the Chernobyl Excusion Zone

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense warned yesterday that the Russian
occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone dramatically increases the risk
of the release of significant amounts of radioactive dust into the
atmosphere that could contaminate not only Ukraine but nearby European
countries.

According to the Ministry, Russian military transport, rockets,
artillery shells, and substandard mortar ammunition stored a few hundred
meters from the nuclear power plant run a high risk of detonation. The
Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and facilities in the Exclusion Zone have
been under the control of the Russian military since 24 February, the first
day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Regulatory control over the state
of nuclear and radiation safety at the site is impossible.

 Byline Times 28th March 2022

Chornobyl and Nuclear Terrorism

March 31, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Nuclear catastrophe threatened, as fires sweep through forests towards Chernobyl site

Chernobyl radiation fears as 25-acre forest fire burns towards nuclear plant. Fears are growing of a nuclear disaster after Russian troops began shelling the Ukrainian town where staff working at the Chernobyl plant live.

Russian shelling has lead to wildfires breaking out across Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, it has been claimed. It is believed that 25acres of the forest surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear site – which is under
Russian control – are now ablaze.

Officials are concerned the fire couldsweep through the forest and tear through the power plant, leading to anuclear disaster and “irreparable consequences” for Ukraine and the “whole world”.

 Mirror 27th March 2022

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-chernobyl-radiation-fears-forest-2656779

March 29, 2022 Posted by | climate change, incidents, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Forest fires erupt around Chernobyl nuclear plant 

Forest fires erupt around Chornobyl nuclear plant, https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3441388-forest-fires-erupt-around-chornobyl-nuclear-plant.html    Forest fires have broken out in the exclusion zone around the Chornobyl nuclear power plant because of combat actions. More than 10,000 hectares of forests are burning, which may cause increased levels of radioactive air pollution.

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova wrote this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

Fire control and extinguishing is impossible due to the seizure of the exclusion zone by Russian troops, she wrote.

As a result of combustion, radionuclides are released into the atmosphere, which are transported by wind over long distances, which threatens radiation to Ukraine, Belarus and European countries. Due to windy and dry weather, the severity and area of fires will grow, which can lead to large-scale fires, which are difficult to deal with even in peacetime.

Denisova warned that the flames could engulf spent nuclear fuel storage facilities and nuclear waste storage facilities located in the Chornobyl zone.

She called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to “send experts and firefighting equipment to Ukraine as soon as possible to prevent irreparable consequences not only for Ukraine but for the whole world.”

“Catastrophic consequences can be prevented only by immediate de-occupation of the territory by Russian troops. Therefore, I call on international human rights organizations to take all possible measures to increase pressure on the Russian Federation to end military aggression against Ukraine and de-occupy high-risk areas,” she wrote.

March 28, 2022 Posted by | climate change, incidents, Ukraine | 1 Comment

Ukraine war – the Nazi factor

Make Nazism Great Again   https://www.opednews.com/articles/Make-Nazism-Great-Again-by-Pepe-Escobar-Azov-Battalion_Nazis_War-In-Ukraine-220325-46.html

By Pepe Escobar  , 25 Mar 22,  

The supreme target is regime change in Russia, Ukraine is just a pawn in the game – or worse, mere cannon fodder.

All eyes are on Mariupol. As of Wednesday night, over 70% of residential areas were under control of Donetsk and Russian forces, while Russian Marines, Donetsk’s 107th batallion and Chechen Spetsnaz, led by the charismatic Adam Delimkhanov, had entered the Azov-Stal plant – the HQ of the neo-Nazi Azov batallion.

Azov was sent a last ultimatum: surrender until midnight – or else, as in a take no prisoners highway to hell.

That implies a major game-changer in the Ukrainian battlefield; Mariupol is finally about to be thoroughly denazified – as the Azov contingent long entrenched in the city and using civilians as human shields were their most hardened fighting force.

There’s no intention whatsoever in Washington to facilitate a peace plan in Ukraine – and that explains Comedian Zelensky’s non-stop stalling tactics. The supreme target is regime change in Russia, and for that Totalen Krieg against Russia and all things Russian is warranted. Ukraine is just a pawn in the game – or worse, mere cannon fodder.

This also means that the 14,000 deaths in Donbass for the past 8 years should be directly attributed to the Exceptionalists. As for Ukrainian neo-Nazis of all stripes, they are as expendable as “moderate rebels” in Syria, be they al-Qaeda or Daesh-linked. Those that may eventually survive can always join the budding CIA-sponsored Neo-Nazi Inc. – the tawdry remix of the 1980s Jihad Inc. in Afghanistan. They will be properly “Kalibrated” city and using civilians as human shields were their most hardened fighting force.

A quick neo-Nazi recap

By now only the brain dead across NATOstan – and there are hordes – are not aware of Maidan in 2014. Yet few know that it was then Ukrainian Minister of Interior Arsen Avakov, a former governor of Kharkov, who gave the green light for a 12,000 paramilitary outfit to materialize out of Sect 82 soccer hooligans who supported Dynamo Kiev. That was the birth of the Azov batallion, in May 2014, led by Andriy Biletsky, a.k.a. the White Fuhrer, and former leader of the neo-nazi gang Patriots of Ukraine.

Together with NATO stay-behind agent Dmitro Yarosh, Biletsky founded Pravy Sektor, financed by Ukrainian mafia godfather and Jewish billionaire Ihor Kolomoysky (later the benefactor of the meta-conversion of Zelensky from mediocre comedian to mediocre President.)

Pravy Sektor happened to be rabidly anti-EU – tell that to Ursula von der Lugen – and politically obsessed with linking Central Europe and the Baltics in a new, tawdry Intermarium. Crucially, Pravy Sektor and other nazi gangs were duly trained by NATO instructors.Biletsky and Yarosh are of course disciples of notorious WWII-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, for whom pure Ukrainians are proto-Germanic or Scandinavian, and Slavs are untermenschen.

Azov ended up absorbing nearly all neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine and were dispatched to fight against Donbass – with their acolytes making more money than regular soldiers. Biletsky and another neo-Nazi leader, Oleh Petrenko, were elected to the Rada. The White Fuhrer stood on his own. Petrenko decided to support then President Poroshenko. Soon the Azov battalion was incorporated as the Azov Regiment to the Ukrainian National Guard.

They went on a foreign mercenary recruiting drive – with people coming from Western Europe, Scandinavia and even South America.

That was strictly forbidden by the Minsk Agreements guaranteed by France and Germany (and now de facto defunct). Azov set up training camps for teenagers and soon reached 10,000 members. Erik “Blackwater” Prince, in 2020, struck a deal with the Ukrainian military that would enable his renamed outfit, Academi, to supervise Azov.

It was none other than sinister Maidan cookie distributor Vicky “F**k the EU” Nuland who suggested to Zelensky – both of them, by the way, Ukrainian Jews – to appoint avowed Nazi Yarosh as an adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The target: organize a blitzkrieg on Donbass and Crimea – the same blitzkrieg that SVR, Russian foreign intel, concluded would be launched on February 22, thus propelling the launch of Operation Z.

All of the above, in fact just a quick recap, shows that in Ukraine there’s no difference whatsoever between white neo-Nazis and brown-colored al-Qaeda/ISIS/Daesh, as much as neo-Nazis are just as “Christian” as takfiri Salafi-jihadis are “Muslim”.

When Putin denounced a “bunch of neo-Nazis” in power in Kiev, the Comedian replied that it was impossible because he was Jewish. Nonsense. Zelensky and his patron Kolomoysky, for all practical purposes, are Zio-Nazis.

Even as branches of the United States government admitted to neo-Nazis entrenched in the Kiev apparatus, the Exceptionalist machine made the daily shelling of Donbass for 8 years simply disappear. These thousands of civilian victims never existed.

U.S. mainstream media even ventured the odd piece or report on Azov and Aidar neo-Nazis. But then a neo-Orwellian narrative was set in stone: there are no Nazis in Ukraine. CIA offshoot NED even started deleting records about training members of Aidar. Recently a crappy news network duly promoted a video of a NATO-trained and weaponized Azov commander – complete with Nazi iconography.

Why “denazification” makes sense

The Banderastan ideology harks back to when this part of Ukraine was in fact controlled by the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Russian empire and Poland. Stepan Bandera was born in Austro-Hungary in 1909, near Ivano-Frankovsk, in the – then autonomous – Kingdom of Galicia.

WWI dismembered European empires into frequently non-viable small entities. In western Ukraine – an imperial intersection – that inevitably led to the proliferation of extremely intolerant ideologies.

Banderastan ideologues profited from the Nazi arrival in 1941 to try to proclaim an independent territory. But Berlin not only blocked it but sent them to concentration camps. In 1944 though the Nazis changed tactics: they liberated the Banderanistas and manipulated them into anti-Russian hate, thus creating a destabilization force in the Ukrainian USSR.

So Nazism is not exactly the same as Banderastan fanatics: they are in fact competing ideologies. What happened since Maidan is that the CIA kept a laser focus on inciting Russian hatred by whatever fringe groups it could instrumentalize. So Ukraine is not a case of
“white nationalism” – to put it mildly – but of anti-Russian Ukrainian nationalism, for all practical purposes manifested via Nazi-style salutes and Nazi-style symbols.

So when Putin and the Russian leadership refer to Ukrainian Nazism, that may not be 100% correct, conceptually, but it strikes a chord with every Russian.

Russians viscerally reject Nazism – considering that virtually every Russian family has at least one ancestor killed during the Great Patriotic War. From the perspective of wartime psychology, it makes total sense to talk of “Ukro-nazism” or, straight to the point, a “denazification” campaign.

How the Anglos loved the Nazis

The United States government openly cheerleading neo-Nazis in Ukraine is hardly a novelty, considering how it supported Hitler alongside England in 1933 for balance of power reasons.

In 1933, Roosevelt lent Hitler one billion gold dollars while England lent him two billion gold dollars. That should be multiplied 200 times to arrive at today’s fiat dollars. The Anglo-Americans wanted to build up Germany as a bulwark against Russia. In 1941 Roosevelt wrote to Hitler that if he invaded Russia the U.S. would side with Russia, and wrote Stalin that if Stalin invaded Germany the U.S. would back Germany. Talk about a graphic illustration of Mackinderesque balance of power.

The Brits had become very concerned with the rise of Russian power under Stalin while observing that Germany was on its knees with 50% unemployment in 1933, if one counted unregistered itinerant Germans.

Even Lloyd George had misgivings about the Versailles Treaty, unbearably weakening Germany after its surrender in WWI. The purpose of WWI, in Lloyd George’s worldview, was to destroy Russia and Germany together. Germany was threatening England with the Kaiser building a fleet to take over the oceans, while the Tsar was too close to India for comfort. For a while Britannia won – and continued to rule the waves.

Then building up Germany to fight Russia became the number one priority – complete with rewriting of History. The uniting of Austrian Germans and Sudetenland Germans with Germany, for instance, was totally approved by the Brits.

But then came the Polish problem. When Germany invaded Poland, France and Britain stood on the sidelines. That placed Germany on the border of Russia, and Germany and Russia divided up Poland. That’s exactly what Britain and France wanted. Britain and France had promised Poland that they would invade Germany from the west while Poland fought Germany from the east.

In the end, the Poles were double-crossed. Churchill even praised Russia for invading Poland. Hitler was advised by MI6 that England and France would not invade Poland – as part of their plan for a German-Russian war. Hitler had been supported financially since the 1920s by MI6 for his favorable words about England in Mein Kampf. MI6 de facto encouraged Hitler to invade Russia.

Fast forward to 2022, and here we go again – as farce, with the Anglo-Americans “encouraging” Germany under feeble Scholz to put itself back together militarily, with 100 billion euros (that the Germans don’t have), and setting up in thesis a revamped European force to later go to war against Russia.

Cue to the Russophobic hysteria in Anglo-American media about the Russia-China strategic partnership. The mortal Anglo-American fear is Mackinder/Mahan/Spykman/Kissinger/Brzezinski all rolled into one: Russia-China as peer competitor twins take over the Eurasian land mass – the Belt and Road Initiative meets the Greater Eurasia Partnership – and thus rule the planet, with the U.S. relegated to inconsequential island status, as much as the previous “Rule Britannia”.

England, France and later the Americans had prevented it when Germany aspired to do the same, controlling Eurasia side by side with Japan, from the English Channel to the Pacific. Now it’s a completely different ball game.

So Ukraine, with its pathetic neo-Nazi gangs, is just an – expendable – pawn in the desperate drive to stop something that is beyond anathema, from Washington’s perspective: a totally peaceful German-Russian-Chinese New Silk Road.

Russophobia, massively imprinted in the West’s DNA, never really went away. Cultivated by the Brits since Catherine the Great – and then with The Great Game. By the French since Napoleon. By the Germans because the Red Army liberated Berlin. By the Americans because Stalin forced to them the mapping of Europe – and then it went on and on and on throughout the Cold War.

We are at just the early stages of the final push by the dying Empire to attempt arresting the flow of History. They are being outsmarted, they are already outgunned by the top military power in the world, and they will be checkmated. Existentially, they are not equipped to kill the Bear – and that hurts. Cosmically.

March 28, 2022 Posted by | history, politics, Reference, Ukraine | Leave a comment

What is the risk of a nuclear accident in Ukraine?

What is the risk of a nuclear accident in Ukraine? A radiation expert
speaks from Kyiv. Vadim Chumak monitored radiation after Chernobyl. He
explains what could go wrong now, and says he’s “old enough to
sacrifice” his life.

Of particular worry is that if a nuclear catastrophe
strikes, scientists might not be able to monitor it or measure its impacts,
says Chumak, who works on ways to monitor radiation exposure and played a
key role in dose assessment following the Chernobyl disaster, when a
nuclear reactor at the site exploded in 1986. Today, he remains close
enough to Kyiv to help should a nuclear disaster result from Russia’s
invasion.

 MIT Technology Review 25th March 2022

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/03/25/1048297/nuclear-risk-in-ukraine-a-radiation-expert-speaks-from-kyiv/

March 28, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

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