‘Very dangerous’: Chernobyl marks anniversary amid Ukraine-Russia war
- This week marks 36 years since the world’s worst civil nuclear disaster at Chernobyl
- Russian troops occupied the site for a month after launching February 24 invasion
The road toward Chernobyl is still littered with Russian soldiers’ discarded ration boxes and occasional empty bullet shells in a subtle but harrowing warning of the invasion’s terrible risk for the infamous nuclear site.
Tuesday marked the 36th anniversary of what is considered the worst ever nuclear disaster, and there was relief the hulking so-called sarcophagus covering the reactor’s radioactivity remains was back under Ukrainian control.
Soldiers cradling their assault rifles watched over checkpoints – including one with an effigy dressed in Russian fatigues and a gas mask – that guard the way from Kyiv to the sprawling site near the border with Belarus.
Yet concerns are far from dissipated for atomic sites in Ukraine because Russia’s invasion of its neighbour is grinding on.
Authorities even said Tuesday that missiles had flown low over a nuclear power station in a close call in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
“They (Chernobyl staff) carried on their work, in spite (of) all of the difficulties … They got the situation stable, so to speak, in this sense the worst was of course avoided,” UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told reporters upon his arrival at Chernobyl.