Most Russian forces have left Chornobyl, Ukraine’s state nuclear company says

Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said on Thursday that most of the Russian forces that occupied the Chornobyl nuclear power station after invading Ukraine had left the defunct plant, and only a “small number” remained.

Though Russian troops seized control of Chornobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plant’s Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986.

Energoatom said these workers had flagged earlier on Thursday that Russian forces were planning to leave the territory.

“The information is confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have set off in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus,” it said in a statement.

It said a small number of Russian troops remained at Chornobyl, but did not specify how many or share further details. Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chornobyl live, it said.

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There was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities, who have denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities in Ukraine at risk.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chornobyl and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops, whose presence prevented the rotation of the plant’s personnel for a time.

Earlier on Thursday, the head of Energoatom urged the UN nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of Chornobyl and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is also occupied by Russian soldiers.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Matthias Williams and Timothy Heritage)