Russian Soldiers Suffer 'Acute Radiation Sickness' After Digging Trenches In Chernobyl

Several hundred members of the Russian army have fallen ill after digging trenches in a highly-contaminated zone near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

The troops who dug trenches in the “Red Forest” are now reportedly receiving medical treatment in a facility in Gomel, Belarus, after suffering “acute radiation sickness.”

The “Red Forest” is the most contaminated area near the nuclear power plant. The 10-square-kilometer zone earned its name after pine trees in the area turned red because of radiation. The area is considered so highly contaminated that even nuclear plant workers are not allowed to enter.

“Another batch of radiation irradiation of Russian terrorists who captured the Chernobyl zone, was brought to the Belarusian center of radiation medicine in Gomel today,” Yaroslav Yemelianenko, an employee at the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone management, wrote on Facebook.

“Have you dug trenches in the Red Forest, b—hes? Now live the rest of your short life with this. There are rules for handling this area. They are mandatory because radiation is physics — it works regardless of status or shoulder ranks.”

Energoatom, the agency in charge of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, said other Russian troops have fled the plant and other areas in the Exclusion Zone.

“It has been confirmed that the occupiers who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the Exclusion Zone set off in two columns towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus,” the agency said.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant fell into the hands of Russian soldiers on Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine. The Russians sparked international concern after they moved heavy military hardware through the contaminated forest without wearing any anti-radiation gear.

The nuclear plant was the site of the worst nuclear disaster in the world. On April 26, 1986, an explosion ripped through the No. 4 reactor at the plant, killing 30 people on the spot. Countless other people have died from symptoms associated with radiation poisoning in the years that followed.

News about the soldiers’ “acute radiation sickness” comes after Ukrainian officials said Russians “looted and destroyed” a specialist laboratory that contained radioactive samples taken from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The laboratory first opened in 2015 to improve the management of radioactive waste at the nuclear plant.