Why Are Russia And Ukraine Fighting Over Chernobyl Site?
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted: “Our defenders are sacrificing themselves so the tragedy of 1986 will never repeat itself.” The defunct nuclear plant, the scene of a deadly fire and explosion in 1986, was taken by Russian forces before the fire was put out.
Chernobyl is the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident and the factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for control over the radioactive site on Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted: “Our defenders are sacrificing themselves so the tragedy of 1986 will never repeat itself.” The defunct nuclear plant, the scene of a deadly fire and explosion in 1986, was taken by Russian forces before the fire was put out.
A radioactive power plant surrounded by thousands of acres of inactive land? Who would want that?
This is due to geographical reasons: Chernobyl covers the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and runs along a logical line of attack for the Russian forces invading Ukraine.
Western military analysts have said that when Moscow captured Chernobyl it used the fastest invasion route from Belarus, a friendly ally of Moscow and a staging ground for Russian forces, to Kyiv.
“We wanted to get from A to B the fastest way possible,” said Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank director James Acton.
According to Jack Keane, former chief of the U.S. Army staff, from this time, said Chernobyl had “no military significance” but was on the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, which Russia was targeting as part of its “decapitation” strategy to remove Ukraine’s government.
Ahead of his invasion of Ukraine, Keane described the route as one of four “axes” Russian forces used, including a second vector from Belarus, an advance into the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and a push north from the Russian-controlled Crimea to the city of Kherson.
Combining the attacks, the combined offensives amounted to the largest attack on a European state since World War Two.
An official from Ukraine said it was captured by Russian forces on Thursday but a senior defence official from the United States denied the claim. Chernobyl was part of the plan and a senior Ukrainian official said it was taken by Russian forces.
When the fourth reactor at Chernobyl exploded during a botched safety test in April 1986, it blew a hole in the ground 67 miles (108 km) north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, sending clouds of radiation billowing across much of Europe and reaching the eastern United States.
Mostly, strontium, caesium, and plutonium are radioactive, and they are distributed primarily in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as parts of Russia and Europe. Globally, there are estimates of thousands of additional cancer deaths caused by the disaster, as well as 93,000 additional cancer deaths from indirect causes.
As soon as the explosion occurred, Soviet authorities tried to cover up the tragedy and did not immediately acknowledge the incident, harming the image of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost policies for greater openness within Soviet society.
A few years later, the collapse of the Soviet Union was widely considered to have been caused by the catastrophe.
In a lengthy statement Thursday, Acton said that Russia’s acquisition of Chernobyl was not to protect it from further damage but to highlight Ukraine’s four active nuclear power plants as posing a greater threat than Chernobyl, which is enclosed in a vast “exclusion zone” bigger than Luxembourg.
To cover the stricken reactor and protect the environment from radiation, a temporary cover, or “sarcophagus,” was constructed within six months of the disaster. It was announced in November 2016 that a so-called “New Safe Confinement” had been installed over the old sarcophagus.
An accident within Chernobyl would be a big issue. But just because of the exclusion zone, the impact probably wouldn’t be as great on Ukrainian civilians,” Acton said.
Despite the nationwide blackout, Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants are safe, and there has been no “destruction” of the remaining waste and other sites at Chernobyl, the UN nuclear agency said on Thursday, citing Ukraine’s nuclear regulator.
Other Ukrainian reactors are not in exclusion zones, and they contain much more radioactive nuclear fuel than the ones in exclusion zones. Therefore, they have much greater risks of combat around them.
During the fighting in Ukraine, Russian forces captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The power plant was taken over by Russian forces on Thursday after Moscow mounted an air, sea, and land assault. Ukrainian troops fought back on three sides.
Ten of the most important points in this big story are:
1. The shortest route between the Belarusian capital of Minsk and Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is Chernobyl, and it lies in the logical path of Russian invading forces.
2. In capturing Chernobyl, Western military analysts said Russia simply used the shortest invasion route from Belarus, an ally of Moscow and a staging ground for Russian forces, to Kyiv.
3. It was the fastest way to get from point A to point B, said James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.
4. A former chief of the US army, Jack Keane, said Chernobyl was “not a strategically significant site.” However, it was on the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, which was the goal of a Russian “decapitation” strategy to overthrow the Ukrainian government.
5. The Russians were involved in taking Chernobyl, according to a senior Ukrainian official, who said the city had been captured by the Russians on Thursday, though a senior US defence official said the US could not confirm those claims.
6. In April 1986, a botched safety test at the fourth Chernobyl reactor exploded, sending clouds of radiation billowing across Europe and the eastern United States. Chernobyl is located 67 miles (108 kilometres) north of Kyiv.
7. Among the areas affected by the radioactive strontium, caesium, and plutonium were Ukraine and Belarus, as well as parts of Russia and Europe. There are varying estimates of the number of people directly and indirectly affected by the disaster, including low thousands to as many as 93,000 more cancer deaths.
8. The Soviet authorities initially tried to hide the disaster and did not immediately acknowledge that an explosion took place, damaging the reputation of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his “glasnost” policies for greater openness in Soviet society.
9. Within six months of the tragedy, an emergency cover, or “sarcophagus,” was constructed to cover the reactor and protection the environment from radiation. On November 16, 2016, the old sarcophagus was replaced by what’s called “New Safe Confinement.”
10. Despite the nuclear crisis in Ukraine, the country’s four nuclear power plants are operating as safely as possible, and no “destruction” has taken place at the remaining nuclear facility or waste storage site at Chernobyl, according to a report provided by the UN nuclear watchdog.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
