Ukraine: Prystaiko confirms Russian troops in Chernobyl

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Sky will show a documentary tonight entitled ‘Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes’ – looking at the nuclear disaster of 1986. Over the weekend, a radiation spike was recorded near Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant. Radiation levels increased about 20-fold on Thursday, monitoring stations there reported. But experts said another major nuclear disaster there is “extremely unlikely”.

While the plant is now a tourist attraction, it also remains a dangerous place.

Reactor 4 can only be approached due to the steel and concrete structure covering the building.

In 2021, increased signs of nuclear activity were detected inside a sealed chamber, sparking fears that the plant could explode again.

Scientists identified a rising number of neutrons inside Subreactor Room 305/2 at the time.

Neutrons are particles in an atom and are released during nuclear fission, when the atom is split. This is what triggers the large amount of energy harvested at nuclear power plants.

Because more neutrons were detected, scientists said this could mean that unknown reactions were taking place.

Maxim Saveliev at the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) in Kyiv, Ukraine, told Science Magazine at the time: “We have only assumptions.

“There are many uncertainties, but we can’t rule out the possibility of an accident.”

Neil Hyatt, a nuclear materials chemist at the University of Sheffield, said the situation was like “the embers in a barbecue pit”.

He added: “It’s a reminder to us that it’s not a problem solved, it’s a problem stabilised.”

The increased activity did not amount to any issues at the plant, which is still monitored closely.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in the Soviet Union in April 1986, when a reactor at the nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyat in Ukraine exploded, leading to a vast and deadly spread of radiation.

However, despite being the worst nuclear accident in history, the rest of the world would not become aware immediately as the Soviet leadership tried desperately to cover up the humiliating event.

Former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, tried to persuade both people at home and around the world that the explosion was a minor event that “requires no special measures to protect the population”.

However, the Chernobyl disaster did not remain concealed for long, as the radiation reached a nuclear power plant in Sweden, where researchers were able to trace the deadly materials all the way back to what is now Ukraine.

The consequences of the cover-up were embarrassing for the Soviet leadership, and in the eyes of many, was the start of the end for the Soviet Union, which fell apart in 1991.

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Chernobyl has been in the headlines recently amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have been condemned after launching military offensives on major cities in Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv.

Last week, images circulated of Russian forces fighting Ukrainians near the Chernobyl power plant.

It has been reported that Moscow’s troops now control the area around the plant.

Tracey German, a professor in conflict and security at the King’s Russia Institute, told The Independent last week that Russian forces took the site purely because of its location.

She said: “It lies on a direct route from Belarus down to Kyiv and would therefore be passed by Russian forces invading from the north.

“If it wasn’t in this location, I don’t think Russian forces would be looking to secure it.”

The defunct nuclear site is situated in northern Ukraine just several miles inside the border and around 80 miles north of the embattled country’s capital.

CNN analyst and national security expert Juliette Kayyem also tweeted last week: “Chernobyl is the shortest route from Russia to Kyiv. The facility is not the goal.”

‘Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes’ airs on Sky Documentaries at 9pm.

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