Russian forces leave town housing workers of defunct nuclear plant Chernobyl
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Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian forces were "militarising" the exclusion zone around the station.
PHOTO: REUTERS
KYIV (REUTERS) - Russian forces have left the Ukrainian town of Slavutych, home to workers at the defunct nuclear plant of Chernobyl, after completing their task of surveying it, the mayor said early on Monday (March 28).
On Saturday, the Kyiv regional governor said Russian forces had taken control of the town just outside the safety exclusion zone around Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, where Ukrainian staff still manage the plant.
“They completed the work they had set out to do,” Mr Yuri Fomichev, the mayor of the northern town, said in an online video post.
On Saturday, the Kyiv regional governor said Russian forces had taken control of the town just outside the safety exclusion zone around Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, where Ukrainian staff still manage the plant.
“They completed the work they had set out to do,” Mr Yuri Fomichev, the mayor of the northern town, said in an online video post.
“They surveyed the town, today they finished doing it and left the town. There aren’t any in the town right now.” Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Mr Fomichev, seated in front of two small flags of the European Union and Ukraine, added that he was working, and not cooperating with the Russians.
Mr Fomichev, seated in front of two small flags of the European Union and Ukraine, added that he was working, and not cooperating with the Russians.
Last week, the regional governor, Mr Oleksandr Pavlyuk, had said Russian forces kidnapped the mayor.
On Sunday, a senior Ukrainian official accused Russia on of "irresponsible" acts around the occupied Chernobyl power station that could send radiation across much of Europe, and urged the United Nations (UN) to dispatch a mission to assess the risks.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian forces were "militarising" the exclusion zone around the station, site of the world's worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.
Russian forces, she said, were transporting large amounts of old and badly maintained weapons, creating a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor.
And Russian forces were preventing firefighters from bringing under control large numbers of fires in the zone.
She then asked that the UN Security Council adopt immediate measures to demilitarise the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl station and to dispatch a special mission to eliminate the risks of any repeat of the Chernobyl accident.
Reuters could not immediately verify Ms Vereshchuk's claims on the ground. Russia has previously denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities inside Ukraine at risk.
The fire and explosion in 1986 in Chernobyl's fourth reactor sent radiation wafting as far away as Britain and Spain.
Thousands of deaths have been linked to the aftermath of the accident and the radiation it released.
All its reactors have now been taken out of service.
