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The disturbing specter of Chernobyl in the military sandbox of the conflict with Ukraine

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine — Ukrainian soldiers, with rifles kalashnikov slung over the shoulder, they patrol through a silent, snowy forest, past houses abandoned so long that vines twine around broken windows. Nothing is grown in the fields, the cities are deserted, and the entire Chernobyl area in northern Ukraine remains so radioactive that it would seem like the last place on Earth anyone would want to conquer.

But while most of the attention on a possible Russian invasion is focused on the troop buildup and daily hostilities in the East, the shortest route from Russia to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is through the north. And it goes through the isolated area around the Chernobyl plant, where a reactor meltdown in 1986 caused the worst nuclear disaster in history.

One of the inconsistencies of the war makes Chernobyl an area that Ukraine believes it must defend, forcing its military to deploy security forces in the disturbing and still radioactive forest, where they carry both weapons and equipment to detect radiation exposure. . “It doesn’t matter if it’s polluted or if no one lives here” said Lt. Col. Yuri Shakhraichuk of the Ukrainian border service. “It is our territory, our country, and we must defend it.”

The troops deployed in that region, known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, would not be enough to repel an invasion, if that were to happen; but they are there to detect warning signs. “We collect information about the situation along the border” and pass it on to Ukraine’s intelligence agencies, Colonel Shakhraichuk said.

The concept of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone when the Soviet authorities established it three decades ago was to limit, through isolation, the lethality of the nuclear power plant accident.

radioactive particles that were left on the ground or trapped under the containment structure of the destroyed reactor while slowly decomposing would pose little risk to soldiers, as long as they do not remain in highly irradiated areas. But the ground must be abandoned, in some places for hundreds of years.

Two months ago, the government deployed additional forces to the area, due to heightened tensions with Russia and Belarus, a Kremlin ally whose border it is eight kilometers from the reactor damaged and where Russia has recently deployed troops.

“How is that possible?” said Ivan Kovalchuk, a Ukrainian firefighter who helped extinguish the fire at the plant in the first days after the accident, risking his life alongside Russians and people from across the former Soviet Union. He said he was outraged by the fact that Russia could threaten the area militarily.

A border guard on a joint patrol with the Ukrainian police inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. New York Times

“We fought the accident together,” Kovalchuk said. “That they do this to us only makes me feel sad for the people” of Ukraine, He said.

Reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant burst and burned during a test on April 26, 1986, releasing about 400 times more radiation than the bombing of Hiroshima.

Thirty people died immediately after the accident, most from radiation exposure; studies on long-term health effects have been mostly inconclusive, but suggest there could be thousands of cancer deaths. Although the area is uninhabitable, it attracts tourists for short visits, which bring in some income, and in Ukraine that is seen as a teachable moment in recent history.

At the time of the accident, Ukraine was a Soviet republic, and the Soviet authorities initially tried to cover up the disaster. In order not to arouse suspicion, a few days later they held May Day parades in Ukraine, parading schoolchildren through a swirl of radioactive dust.

insensitive attitude

This insensitive attitude contributed to stir up anti-Soviet sentiment throughout Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the most affected republics, and the accident is considered one of the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later.

The Chernobyl zone covers some 2,600 square kilometers along the shortest direct route from the Belarusian border to Kiev. Although not necessarily the most likely invasion route from the north, because it is swampy and densely forested, Ukraine does not rule it out.

Before last fall, the 1,100-kilometre border between Ukraine and Belarus was almost unguarded, especially in the irradiated areas. Some 145 kilometers of border separate the Ukrainian zone from an equally isolated and irradiated area in Belarus, called Polesie State Radiological Reserve.

The situation changed in November, amid a migration crisis in Belarus and a troop surge in Russia. The combination of both events was ominous.

Chernobyl

Moscow began massing troops in a way that suggested plans for an incursion into Ukraine through Belarus. Kiev also feared that Belarus could create a provocation, such as directing migrants towards the Ukrainian border – as the Belarusian government did with Poland – and provoke the spark of war.

Ukraine responded by deploying an additional 7,500 guards on the Belarusian border. Colonel Shakhraichuk of the border service said he could not reveal how many were specifically deployed to Chernobyl. But fears about an incursion from Belarus they have only increased this week because Russia is mobilizing troops and equipment to that area, ahead of planned joint exercises with Belarus in February.

Only a dozen soldiers were seen on a recent visit to the border area, but officials said others were patrolling in various locations. The area is a sad place to work. In the days after the accident, some 91,000 people were evacuated with just a few hours’ notice.

Around their former homes grew forests. Through the windows you can see shoes, clothes, dishes and other remnants of daily life covered in dust and lichen. In the largest town, Pripyat, now a ghost town, a propaganda poster still extols the virtues of civilian nuclear power. “Let the atom be a worker, not a soldier”, pray.

The risk of a war spreading radiation further seems minimal. But an object in the zone is especially vulnerable: a new stainless steel bow of 1,700 million dollars on the destroyed reactor, paid mostly by the United States and some 30 other countries. Construction was completed in 2016 to prevent the spread of highly radioactive dust.

Chernobyl city still partially occupied by workers who live there during rotations. They maintain the containment structure over the damaged reactor, the roads and other infrastructure.

“It’s bad, it’s scary”Elena Bofsunovska, a grocery store employee, said about the possibility of military action near the destroyed reactor. “We don’t know what will kill us first, the virus, the radiation or the war,” Oleksei Prishepa, a worker at the shop counter, said with a shrug.

Prishepa said that she would prefer Ukraine to establish defensive lines further south, giving up the irradiated zone to whoever wanted it. “It’s a barren land,” he said. “No crops will grow here.”

A destroyed house in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The New York Times

A destroyed house in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The New York Times

Before the Russian rally, the main security concern at Chernobyl was the illegal collection of mushrooms and scrap metal, activities that risk spreading radiation outside the area. the police too regularly detains those who enter illegally for tourism.

dangerous forest

Most of the time, soldiers on patrol have little risk of radiation. But the longer-lived particles remain, creating invisible hot spots and deadly dangerous in the woods. Some emit radiation levels thousands of times higher than normal. Soldiers have marked routes to avoid these places, which have long been demarcated by scientists.

However, while patrolling the area, soldiers must wear devices on a lanyard around their necks that continuously monitor exposure; according to the protocols to patrol in the area, sIf a soldier stumbles upon a highly irradiated sector, he is removed service to avoid further exposure.

So far, none of the border guards deployed to the area in November have been exposed to high doses, according to Colonel Shakhraichuk. “There are very dangerous places that you have to avoid”, said Major Aleksei Vegera, who serves in the Chernobyl police force. Members of that force, used to working in the area, accompany border guards on patrols.

“We try to be careful” He said. “But what can I say, I’m used to it.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ANDRE E. KRAMER

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