30 April 2023 , 08:35
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A band of Russian soldiers who bunked in the "Red Forest" - which which got its name due to the horrendous levels of nuclear material left by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster - were "too thick" to realise they were putting themselves at risk of radition poisoning.
On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl's Reactor Number Four exploded - triggering an unprecedented nuclear disaster and dispersing deadly radioactive material into the atmosphere and surrounding area.
Some of the worst affected areas were the immediate surrounds, including the Red Forest - which sits within a six-mile radius of the reactor.
But on the first day of the invasion, the Russians crossed into the area from Belarus, digging trenches in some of the most deadly territory around Chernobyl - where nuclear waste was buried beneath the very ground they slept on.
For a fortnight they stayed, eating, drinking and sleeping in the tainted ground.
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They camped down in the Red Forest, which surrounds the Chernobyl plant and is named for its lethal levels of radiation (AFP via Getty Images)Oksana Pyshna, 30, a tour guide who now works for the state, managing the exclusion zone, said: "Don’t try to find logic.
"It’s stupid. It’s the most dangerous territory in the special zone, because under the ground we have nuclear waste.”
Diplomats have now confirmed that some of the men involved in the deathwish operation now suffer with radiation sickness, reports The Times.
A local from the Chernobyl exclusion zone, one of a handful who have stayed behind and were stunned by the behaviour of the Russian troops (Mediadrumimages/RobynVonSwank)The handful of locals - who have remained and become incredibly blase about the risks - were even stunned to learn that they had been digging into the ground considering they knew that even kicking up the moss could lead to the hideous illness.
Galyna Voloshnya, 74, said she believes the Russians were fully aware of the dangers they were facing, but decided to camp down anyway.
She explained: “I think they understood the risks, but they’re just thick,” she said.
Russian soldiers marching on Chernobyl (EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock)"The Russians fished in the reactor’s cooling channel. They shot animals and left them dead on the roads.
“They collected sand from the Red Forest and made checkpoints from it.”
Putin's boys also seized the engineers inside the plant, holding personnel at gunpoint during marathon shifts in which exployees were forced to sleep on tabletops and eat just twice a day.
Local residents fish in the Pripyat river near the Belarussian village of Konotop, outside the 30 kms exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, 25 April 2006 (AFP)Officials said they were shocked by the complete disregard for safety, or the ignorance, that the young soldiers displayed during the recent invasion.
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Some are said to have even plundered the area for highly radioactive materials, or to sell on to collectors.
After a few weeks and a devastating Ukrainian counteroffensive from nearby Kyiv, the Russian troops withdrew but now with a special souvenir from the Chernobyl plant.