Monday, June 06, 2022

Russian forces left roughly 100 liters of 'high-quality vodka' at the Chernobyl nuclear plant before they retreated, Ukrainian workers say


Chernobyl, UKRAINE: A rescue worker sets flag signalling radioactivity in front of Chernobyl nuclear power plant during a drill organized by Ukraine's Emergency Ministry 08 November 2006. Employees and rescue workers improved their reactivity in case of a collapse of the sarcophagus covering the destroyed 4th power block.S
ERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty ImagesMore

Taiyler Simone Mitchell
Mon, June 6, 2022, 8:26 PM·2 min read


Russian forces seized the Chernobyl nuclear plant on the first day of the Ukrainian invasion.


Hundreds of workers were held hostage during the occupation until the pullout in March.


Workers are now left to clean up the mess Russian troops left behind — including vodka and feces.


Ukrainian workers who are cleaning up the Chernobyl nuclear plant following the Russian troop withdrawal have found "high-quality vodka," The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Hundreds of workers were held hostage at the plant for weeks after Russian forces took over on February 24 — the start of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war on Ukraine.

"When the invasion started, the front guards got a call to fall back because a huge flow of Russian troops were coming," said Julia Bezdizha, a spokeswoman for the plant, told The Journal. "They fled mainly because it was very dangerous to stay and engage in heavy combat because of the heavy radiation."

The Russian troops began their withdrawal in late March after having been affected by "significant doses of radiation," Ukrainian authorities previously said.

Russian soldiers were reported to have dug up trenches and navigated the plant without protective gear.

Radiation exposure can lead to varying short and long-term health effects — including acute radiation syndrome, cancer, and mental distress — according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We believe very soon [the Russians] will feel the consequences of radiation that they have received. Some of them will feel it in months, some of them in years," Yevhen Kramarenko, head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, said at a press conference in April. "But anyway, all of the servicemen who were there will feel it at some point."

He added that it's unclear how radiation levels have changed nearby after the site — including its radioactive soil — was tampered with.

In addition to leaving behind around 100 liters of high-quality vodka, the Russian troops left a large mess at the plant, per The Journal.

Ukrainian workers found human feces, smashed computer screens, and spray-painted walls throughout the plant, according to The Journal.

"The poop was the icing on the cake," Aleksandr Barsukov, the deputy director of the Chernobyl Ecocenter, told The Journal.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Russian forces left piles of excrement in every office of the Chernobyl nuclear plant before they retreated, Ukrainian workers say


Chernobyl nuclear plant

Taiyler Simone Mitchell
Mon, June 6, 2022


Ukrainian soldiers sit on top of a military vehicle parked outside the hotel in Prypiat, Ukraine on February 4.
Volodymyr Tarasov/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Image

Russian forces began their withdrawal from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster site in March.


But Ukrainian workers are now discovering what they left behind — including human feces.


"The poop was the icing on the cake," the deputy director of the Chernobyl Ecocenter, said.


Russian forces may have evacuated the Chernobyl nuclear plant, but they destroyed the premises leaving behind mounds of defecation in each office, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Hundreds of Ukrainian workers were held hostage for weeks throughout the Russian occupation. Now workers are moving to clean up the site following the Russian troops' withdrawal in late March after being affected by "significant doses of radiation."

Aleksandr Barsukov, the deputy director of the Chernobyl Ecocenter, told The Journal that they have found spray-painted conference rooms, smashed computer screens, and 100 liters of high-quality vodka.

"The poop was the icing on the cake," Barsukov said.

Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 Soviet nuclear disaster, was seized on the first day of the war for a total of five weeks.

After disturbing the soil, soldiers "panicked at the first sign" of radiation illness, which "showed up very quickly," Ukrainian state power company Energoatom told The Guardian. The outlet reported that the panic led to the troops pulling out of the region.

"When the invasion started, the front guards got a call to fall back because a huge flow of Russian troops were coming," said Julia Bezdizha, a spokeswoman for the plant, told WSJ. "They fled mainly because it was very dangerous to stay and engage in heavy combat because of the heavy radiation."

Russian forces had also seized Europe's largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia, at the start of the war. The occupation of the plants had some concerned about a nuclear reaction and increased radiation levels.

The exact impact on Russian soldiers is currently unknown, but troops were reported to have dug trenches in radioactive soil and moved about the plant without protective gear.

Radiation exposure can impact an individual's health in many different ways — including acute radiation syndrome, cancer, and mental distress — according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Yevhen Kramarenko, head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, said at a press conference in April that it's unclear how radiation levels in the area have been impacted by the Russian forces.

But, he adds, "we believe very soon [the Russians] will feel the consequences of radiation that they have received. Some of them will feel it in months, some of them in years."

"But anyway, all of the servicemen who were there will feel it at some point," Kramarenko continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war against Ukraine began on February 24 and is ongoing.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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