Members of the 127th Territorial Defense Force brigade search vehicles after curfew on a road on the outskirts of Kharkiv. Photo / Getty Images
Members of the 127th Territorial Defense Force brigade search vehicles after curfew on a road on the outskirts of Kharkiv. Photo / Getty Images
Radiation detectors are blaring in buildings near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after Russian troops dug trenches in most contaminated place on the planet.
The soldiers have now evacuated the toxic hotbed of Chernobyl with Ukrainian officials alleging that the soldiers "carelessly" spread radioactive dust throughout the area.
Workers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, have warned that Russian troops were kicking up clouds of radioactive dust after driving armoured vehicles through an area.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it has been unable to independently verify reporting that suggested Russian forces have received "high doses of radiation."
The UN atomic watchdog wants to ensure the site is safe. Photo / Maxar Technologies
"It is of paramount importance that the IAEA travels to Chernobyl so that we can take urgent action to assist Ukraine in ensuring nuclear safety and security there," Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
As of Friday the nuclear watchdog still had not been able to access the site, but said it was the agency's "priority was to send safety, security and safeguards staff to the Chernobyl NPP as soon as it is possible."
CNN reported Ukrainian officials released drone footage of what they said were trenches dug by Russian soldiers in that area – which was particularly radioactive.
Although Ukraine has repelled Russian forces elsewhere in the country, it expects a renewed attack from the east as Russia tries to encircle Ukrainian troops fighting in the nearby Donbas region. Photo / Getty Images
The publication reported it saw a Russian military ration box that exhibited radiation levels 50 times higher than naturally occurring values.
The Russian military held Chernobyl for a month and was thought to be operating in contaminated areas for most of the time.
"It's crazy, really," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko told CNN at the plant.
"I really have no idea why they did it (go into the Red Forest).
"That confinement is supposed to have electricity, it's supposed to have the ventilation system and so on.
"When the country cannot control this, and we are responsible, Ukraine is responsible for the security, of course, that is a threat."
It comes as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
While a handful of other leaders have visited Kyiv since Russia invaded, Johnson's trip marks one of the highest-profile face-to-face meetings with Zelenskyy. He is the first leader of the Group of 7 (G7) most industrialised nations to meet Ukraine's president in person during the war.
Notably, US President Joe Biden did not set foot in Ukrainian territory when he held talks in Europe two weeks ago. But at that point, Russian forces were still attempting to take Ukraine's capital.
