Operation in the "Red Forest": Russian soldiers in Chernobyl apparently irradiated

Cologne City Gazette Operation in the "Red Forest": Russian soldiers in Chernobyl apparently irradiated ksta - Yesterday at 15:16 According to US information, the Russian armed forces have begun withdrawing from the zone around the Chernobyl nuclear ruins. Russian soldiers are leaving the area for neighboring Belarus, a US Defense Department official said on Wednesday. "We think they're leaving. But I can't say that everyone left." A person holds a Geiger counter near the Red Forest in northern Ukraine. The stay in the area around the damaged nuclear reactor was apparently not without consequences for the Russian troops. Many of the Russian soldiers deployed in the Chernobyl area would need to be treated for radiation symptoms in Belarus, local tourist guide Yaroslav Yemelianenko reported on Facebook, citing a report on Belarusian television. Soldiers apparently admitted to the Center for Radiation Medicine A group of “radiation-damaged” soldiers was taken to the Belarusian center for radiation medicine in Gomel. The Reuters news agency previously reported accordingly. The Russian troops had driven through particularly badly contaminated areas such as the "Red Forest" without protective equipment, explained two power plant employees. The so-called "Red Forest" is considered to be a particularly heavily polluted area of ​​around ten square kilometers near Chernobyl. The forest got its name because the pine trees growing there had taken on a reddish-brown color after absorbing the high levels of radiation after the Chernobyl accident. One of the most contaminated areas in the world The site is still considered one of the most heavily contaminated areas in the world, even the employees of the nuclear ruins are not allowed to enter the area. The Russian soldiers could therefore have been exposed to high doses of radiation, as additional radioactive dust was whirled up by vehicles driving over them. Russia announced on Tuesday that it would significantly reduce military activities in the region around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and in the area around the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine. With new attacks on Chernihiv and Mariupol in the south, however, Russia dashed hopes that the situation would ease. The United States had already warned on Tuesday that it was not about a "withdrawal" of Russian troops, but a "repositioning". A "major offensive against other regions in Ukraine" is threatening.