War in Ukraine: Challenge of Russian troop movements near Chernobyl and Belarus

“We hope they are transforming themselves in Belarus. We do not have the exact number, but that is our initial estimate,” a Pentagon spokesman explained.


Study time: 3 minutes

IA senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday that Russian troops had begun to withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear base on the first day of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.



The Russian military has begun retreating from Gostomel’s airport in northwest Kiev, and the senior official told reporters anonymously that “Chernobyl is another area where people are leaving Chernobyl to move to Belarus and change themselves.” “We think they’re leaving. I can not tell if they’re all gone,” he added.

A few days ago, after a brief occupation, the Russians left the city of Slavodich, where the staff of the nuclear power plant already lived.

The situation in Chernobyl is worrying

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stopped receiving live data from Chernobyl since March 9. He was concerned on Sunday about the revenue shortfall of staff at the plant since March 20.

Plot No. 4 of the plant exploded in 1986, causing the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history. It is covered by double sarcophagus, one built by the Soviets and now damaged, the other, more modern, opened in 2019.

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The other three reactors at the plant were gradually shut down after the 2000 disaster.

A new military “system”?

On February 25, the day after the start of the Ukrainian invasion, the Antonov military airport in Gostomel was attacked by Russian forces.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby pointed out that “less than 20%” of Russian forces “began to transform themselves” in the direction of Belarus, as progress on kyiv was blocked by Ukrainian opposition.

“We believe they are converting themselves in Belarus. We do not have the exact number, but that is our preliminary estimate,” Kirby added at a news conference. Will provide and relocate them elsewhere in Ukraine, “he said, quoting CNN.

“This is not a detail,” he noted. “If the Russians are serious about reducing the intensity, that’s what they say, they’ll send them home. But they didn’t.



He said the bombings were still taking place near Kiev.

Moscow, which says it wants to focus on the Donbass region, where the separatist areas of Donetsk and Lugansk are located, has promised to “drastically reduce (its) military action in the direction of Kiev and Chernivtsi” in the north of the country.

The shelling did not stop, however, especially around the east of the country and around Kiev, Kirby noted.

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