Ukrainians shocked by ‘crazy’ scene at Chernobyl

For the first time since it reverted to Ukrainian authority, CNN was granted exclusive access to the power facility.

The levels of radiation within the chamber used by Russian soldiers, according to plant officials, are only slightly higher than what the World Nuclear Association defines as naturally occurring radiation. One-time interaction would not be harmful, but regular exposure would be harmful to one’s health.

“They went everywhere, and they also took some radioactive dust on them [when they left],” Ugolkov adds.

It’s an example of what Ukrainian officials believe were Russian soldiers’ sloppy and dangerous actions while in charge of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe site. The Red Forest, which surrounds Chernobyl, remains the most Nuclear-contaminated territory on the earth, with the majority of radioactive particles contained in the soil.

Officials in Ukraine have released drone footage of what they claim are Russian military digging trenches in that area, which is extremely radioactive. CNN discovered a Russian military ration box with radiation levels 50 times higher than naturally occurring values at a safe location on the outskirts of that area.

Russian soldiers held Chernobyl for a month and are thought to have been operating in contaminated areas most of the time.

“It’s crazy, really,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko tells CNN at the plant. “I really have no idea why they did it (go into the Red Forest).

“But we can see they went in there, the soldiers who went there, came back here and the level of radiation increased.”

Despite the fact that Chernobyl is no longer a functioning power plant, the sarcophagus above the reactor that exploded over 36 years ago must be maintained in order to prevent any radiation leakage. In addition, there is a significant amount of spent nuclear fuel that needs to be managed.

“That confinement is supposed to have electricity, it’s supposed to have the ventilation system and so on,” Galushchenko explains. “When the country cannot control this, and we are responsible, Ukraine is responsible for the security, of course, that is a threat.”

Russian forces have acted inappropriately in and around Ukrainian nuclear power plants, according to Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko.

Part of the threat stemmed from the way the Russian military handled people in charge of nuclear facility maintenance.

[Our staff] were here from the first day of occupation, and they only had the possibility of being replaced a month later,” he says. “When people are physically and morally exhausted, when you are under threat of guns, and you have this everyday pressure from the soldiers, it’s really a very difficult job.”

Volodymyr Falshovnyk, 64, is a Chernobyl shift manager. On March 20, he returned to the power plant when the Russian military permitted exhausted personnel to rotate with colleagues from Slavutych, a nearby city where many of the plant’s workers live.

He claims that the personnel was under a lot of stress, not only because of what was going on at Chernobyl, but also because of what they were hearing from the outside world.

“Our relatives began to call and say that the city was being stormed, that there were wounded and dead,” he says. “We asked the Russians what was going on and they said there were no regular Russian troops there but we continued to hear that there was shelling.”

Falshovnyk also accused the Russian soldiers of looting the power plant.

“They gave us personnel from Rosatom (Russian Nuclear Agency) to escort us, and in their escort we toured the uncovered warehouses. They robbed these warehouses all the time,” he adds.