Energoatom did not provide details on the status of the troops or how many were affected. However, he said the Russians had dug into the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant, the site of the 1986 worst nuclear disaster in the world. The troops “panicked at the first sign of illness”, which “appeared very quickly” and began preparing to leave, Energoatom said. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was unable to confirm reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. He said he was looking for more information. Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl site in the early stages of the February 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radioactivity. The workforce at the construction site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and explosive reactor debris buried in concrete. Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the US-based Association of Concerned Scientists, said it was “unlikely” a large number of troops would develop serious radioactivity, but it was impossible to know for sure without further details. He said the contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the Chernobyl clearing and some soldiers may have been exposed to a “hot spot” of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were in danger, he said. The reported departure came amid indications that the Kremlin is using the de-escalation talks as cover, while concentrating and replenishing its forces and commissioning them for an escalating attack in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was seeing “an accumulation of Russian forces for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for that.” Meanwhile, a bus convoy headed to Mariupol in another attempt to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited ceasefire in the area. And a new round of talks aimed at ending the fighting was scheduled for Friday. The Red Cross said its teams headed to Mariupol with medical supplies and other assistance and hoped to evacuate civilians from the besieged city. Tens of thousands have been able to get out of Mariupol in recent weeks via humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from 430,000 before the war to about 100,000 last week, but other efforts to alleviate the city have been thwarted by continuing Russia. attacks. Earlier this week, the Russians said they would significantly reduce operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to boost trust between the two sides and facilitate negotiations. But on the outskirts of Kiev, Governor Oleksandr Palviuk told social media that Russian forces had bombed Irpin and Makariv and that there had been fighting around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there had been Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the eastern suburb of Brovary. Chernihiv was also attacked. At least one person was killed and four others were injured in a Russian humanitarian bombing of a bus sent to Chernihiv to evacuate residents who had been cut off from food, water and other supplies, Human Rights Commissioner Lukashenko of Ukraine said. Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barricades in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Despite the fighting, Russia has said it is committed to a ceasefire along the route from Mariupol to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said that 45 buses will be sent to collect citizens who have suffered some of the worst deprivations of the war. Food, water and medical supplies have been depleted during a weekly blockade and bombing of the city. Citizens who managed to leave usually did so using private cars, but the number of drivers left in the city has been reduced and fuel is low. “It is desperately important that this operation be carried out,” the Red Cross said in a statement. “The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it.” Talks between Ukraine and Russia were to resume on Friday via video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arahamia, setting weeks after the war that left thousands dead and 4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country. But there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict soon, especially after the Russian attacks in areas where it had offered to reduce. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the conditions are not yet “ripe” for a ceasefire and that he is not ready to meet with Zelensky until the negotiators do more work, said Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader. . NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance’s information showed that Russia was not restricting its military operations in Ukraine, but was trying to regroup, replenish its forces and step up its attack on Donbas. “Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions,” Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, the pressure continues in Kyiv and other cities and “we can expect additional offensive actions that will bring even more suffering.” Donbass is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial area where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. In recent days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its military objectives, has said that its “main target” is now is gaining control of Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol. Donetsk’s top rebel leader Dennis Pushilin has ordered the formation of a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, as a sign of Russia’s intention to hold and manage the city. Ukraine’s emergency services also said the death toll had risen to 20 from a Russian rocket attack on a government building in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Tuesday. As Western officials look for clues as to what Russia’s next move might be, a top British intelligence official has said that frustrated Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and accidentally shot down their own aircraft. Speaking in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ cyber-espionage service, said Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how bad the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said the United States was wrong and that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon has any real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.”
Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.
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