Russians in Chernobyl suffer from radiation effects: Ukrainian official

• Russian soldiers relinquished control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant earlier this month.
• A Ukrainian official said troops stationed there would “feel the consequences” of the radiation poisoning soon.
• Yevvin Kramarenko said the Russians dug trenches and moved into the most polluted areas of the site.

The head of Ukraine’s state agency for the management of the exclusion zone said on Wednesday that the Russian forces that captured Chernobyl will soon suffer from the effects of radiation exposure after digging trenches in the nuclear zone.

Yevvin Kramarenko told reporters that the Russian forces, Who occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone for five weeksThey dug trenches and shelters for their cars in an area known as the Red Forest.

The Red Forest is a 1.5-square-mile pine forest that died from radiation exposure shortly after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. It remains the most polluted area of ​​the exclusion zone, according to Reuters.

“We think soon [the Russians] They will feel the consequences of the radiation they received. Some will feel it in months, some in years, Kramarenko said Wednesday press conference. “But anyway, all the soldiers who were there will feel it at some point.”

Also confirmed Previous reports Russian soldiers are roaming around the Red Forest without any protective gear and inhaling clouds of radioactive dust.

Radiation poisoning can cause different effects depending on the strength and length of exposure, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In more serious cases, radiation poisoning can lead to internal bleeding and skin burns, as well as thyroid cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to the CDC.

The Ukrainian state electricity company, Energoatom, said that Russian forces left the restricted area at the beginning of the month after some of its soldiers “panicked” at the first sign of radiation sickness. Watchman.

Energoatum added that it was not clear exactly what their supposed symptoms were, although they “came up very quickly.”

Russian troops have since headed to Belarus and Russia, Kramarenko said, adding that Ukrainian plant officials are now working on developing additional safety measures “to avoid any future events similar to what should happen.”

The power plant was completely decommissioned after the 1986 nuclear accident, and the remaining work on the site is directed mostly toward decontamination.

It is unclear how high radiation levels are around the site at the moment because there is currently no electricity, Kramarenko said.

“Until then we will not understand the damage that has been done,” he said.