Nuclear engineer Liudmyla Kozak was in the middle of a 12-hour night shift at the defunct Chernobyl power plant when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and workers heard loud explosions from the edge of the so-called exclusion zone around the site.
As military planes flew overhead and the sound of fighting approached, Kozak and his colleagues realized that the next shift of workers would not arrive to replace them as scheduled that morning.
By mid-afternoon, “we saw on our monitors that some uninvited guests were coming in,” Kozak, 45, told Reuters in Slavutych, a town near the Belarus border where Chernobyl workers live.
Workers were about to witness the most dramatic events at the plant since the 1986 nuclear disaster, whose 36th anniversary was marked by a vigil in Slavutych on Tuesday.
After fighting Ukrainian forces around the still-radioactive power plant, Russian troops took control of its territory on the night of the first day of the invasion — part of Moscow’s land, sea and air attack on Ukraine that was the biggest attack on Ukraine. a European state. since World War II.
“They captured us and then let us go back to our jobs after lengthy negotiations. They said we could work, that no one would bother us,” Kozak said.
“We carry out their orders, trying not to contradict them or get into conflict — so as not to provoke greater conflicts.”
As the days passed, Ukrainian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly called for the release of exhausted personnel, who operate radioactive waste facilities.
Kozak said Russian troops used a facility on the plant’s territory as a base for attacks closer to Kiev, which is 100 kilometers from the plant.
“They went to Kiev, did some shooting, then went back to the factory and rested, showered, did their laundry, ate a little and slept, then went to Kiev again,” she said, adding that the soldiers had stored a large amount of weapons and military equipment in Chernobyl.
Reuters was unable to independently verify your account. While the plant was occupied, Ukraine warned of Russian forces bringing weapons and ammunition into the exclusion zone — the area around Chernobyl, which is normally closed to those who do not work there or have special permission due to radiation hazards.
On April 26, 1986, a sudden power surge during a test of reactor systems destroyed Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The accident and the ensuing fire released large amounts of radioactive material into the environment, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Britannica called it the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power generation.
Kozak did not see the withdrawal of Russian soldiers at the end of March. Before that, after 25 days in the occupied factory, she and other workers were allowed to leave and other employees took their places.
“My shift lasted 600 hours instead of 12,” she said with a tired smile.
Source: CNN Brasil
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