All Russian troops who occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine have left the decommissioned plant, Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said on March 31.
The troops headed toward Ukraine's border with Belarus, Energoatom said.
"According to the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there are now no outsiders on site," Energoatom said in a statement. State-owned Energoatom had earlier said most troops had gone, leaving only a small number behind.
The operator said that the Russian military also left Slavutych, a nearby town where Chernobyl workers live.
Energoatom also said Russian troops got “significant doses" of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site. Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the troops or how many were affected.
There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not been able to confirm reports of Russian troops receiving high doses, according to the AP news agency. It said it was seeking more information.
Russian troops seized control of Chernobyl soon after the February 24 invasion, but the plant's Ukrainian staff continued to oversee operations there.
Although the plant is decommissioned, it needs electricity to power cooling systems for the spent nuclear-fuel storage facility and other systems. Tons of waste at the plant must be constantly cooled to keep radiation from leaking.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk demanded that Russian forces occupying the power station pull out of the area after Ukraine's armed forces warned of the danger of ammunition exploding at the site.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, traveled to Ukraine on March 29 for talks with senior government officials on the delivery of "urgent technical assistance" to ensure the safety and security of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Grossi arrived on March 31 in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad for talks on April 1 with senior Russian officials. The IAEA didn’t provide further details of his agenda.
Ukraine has 15 active nuclear reactors at four plants, one of which, at Zaporizhzhya, is under the Russian military’s control.
The head of Energoatom on March 31 urged the UN nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of Chernobyl and the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
