The lasting effects of Russia’s occupation of Chernobyl

Pripyat with the Chernobyl sarcophagus in the background. Photo: Shutterstock

“All our humanist views are relative. Under extreme conditions, a person essentially shows himself to be nothing like the characters they write about in books. The wheels of evil will keep turning even during the apocalypse. People will keep gossiping, kowtowing to their bosses, rescuing their TV sets and astrakhan coats.”

– Svetlana Alexievich

Situation in the Zone before February 24th 2022

Already several years before the Russian invasion, the Armed Forces of Ukraine regularly held military exercises in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. However, the ones held on February 4th 2022, i.e. on the 52nd founding anniversary of Pripyat (a satellite town of the Chernobyl plant), caused quite a stir. The Ukrainian military’s demonstrative actions, in fact, ended with fires being set in the “Yubileyny” pavilion, shattered glass and gunfire-marked facades of buildings. Representatives of the Zone’s administration emphasized that no one had coordinated with them the scope of the exercises in Pripyat.

The outcry came not only from residents of the Zone or people with professional ties to it but also from senior officials.

“We were shocked that real bullets were fired at Pripyat houses today. We consider Pripyat to be a memorial site” – Lala Tarapkina, then advisor to the Minister of Environment for the Exclusion Zone, wrote on social media.

The then Minister of Interior Affairs Denys Monastyrski summarized the exercises in the Zone by stating, “Ready to defend the homeland. We will not allow such a tragedy as happened in Sloviansk in 2014. Today, for the first time, units of the Interior Affairs Ministry conducted tactical exercises in the Exclusion Zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.”

At that time, the possibility of a full-scale war was still not considered, at least in official communications.

On February 10th, the “Allied Resolve 2022” military manoeuvres began in Belarus with the participation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Their main objective was to practice “repelling external aggression”. Overall, such activity proceeded peacefully. The Ukrainian side was only alarmed by reports of a pontoon bridge on the Pripyat river that was spotted on satellite images. The crossing was created on Belarusian territory, merely twenty kilometres from the site of the most famous nuclear disaster in world history.

A week later, the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management issued a decision to suspend visits to the areas around the power plant from February 20th to March 20th. Matters related to the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and maintaining the safety of the “Vector” complex and the Buryakivka disposal site were stated as the official reasons behind this decision.

Unofficially, the scenario of a full-scale attack by the Russian Federation on independent Ukraine was becoming increasingly likely. The Exclusion Zone was expected to be one of the first attack targets for Russian troops. However, it was not just a matter of strategic considerations, of gaining an advantage over the Ukrainians. The entry of Russian occupation troops into the Exclusion Zone should be considered in a much broader context.

Occupation

On Wednesday, February 23rd, late in the evening, officers were withdrawn from the border posts around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Just a few hours later, at around four in the morning, the Russian army entered the territory of independent Ukraine from the Belarusian side (the occupation troops crossed the border in the vicinity of three villages – Benivka, Paryshev and Vilcha).

A grouping of Russian Interior Ministry troops known as “Palmira” was responsible for the occupation of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They entered the power plant at around two in the afternoon. Two hours later, a column was recorded passing through a checkpoint on the border of the ten-kilometre exclusion zone in Leliv. In the evening, the Russians crossed the border of the Exclusion Zone in Dytyatky.

The Russian forces were well aware that the Ukrainians would not be able to launch a counter-attack due to the nearby radioactive waste storage facilities or the new sarcophagus. In one of their first comments, representatives of the Exclusion Zone Management board noted that this was the first internationally recorded act of nuclear terrorism and blackmail. 

Throughout the entire Russian occupation, operational staff, responsible for maintaining critical facilities, were stationed in companies around the Exclusion Zone, including the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The rest of the staff were evacuated on the morning of February 24th. It was not until March 20th, after 25 days of continuous work, that a partial replacement of staff took place. Sixty-four people (50 power plant workers, nine guardsmen, one emergency worker, and four “stalkers”) returned home. They were replaced by 46 people who volunteered to work.

The Security Service of Ukraine was quite quick to identify the Russian generals who commanded the operation to capture, occupy and then pillage the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The order to storm the power plant was given by the former deputy of the Siberian district of the National Guard of Russia, Major General Oleg Yakushev. The actions of his subordinates were directly supervised by Colonel Andrey Frolenkov, deputy commander of a combined unit of Rosgvardia special purpose units in the Bryansk region. Furthermore, another general, Sergey Burakov, directly ordered his subordinates to deport the National Guard of Ukraine soldiers who were protecting the Chernobyl power plant to Russia. He is also responsible for the pillage of the power plant’s property.

Withdrawal of Russian forces

After the heroic defence of Kyiv by the Ukrainian side, the northern group of Russian troops withdrew from Ukrainian territory. On March 31st, the invaders left the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Russians even prepared a deed to hand over control of the Chernobyl plant to the Ukrainian side. The document reads that “Russian troops protected the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from February 24th to March 31st.” They also brazenly indicated that “the administration of the protected facility makes no claim against the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation.”

“Organized columns of “victorious” RuSSian troops left the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the satellite town of Slavutych. They also took themselves out of Dymer” – Energoatom reported on its profile on Telegram on March 31st. “And we, together with you, are waiting for the Exclusion Zone to be completely cleared of all the filth and villainy. Thank God, we did not have to wait long – a few days and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant will be Ukraine again!” – Energoatom pointed out.

In the evening of the same day, the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management reported that there were no more outsiders on the plant site.

According to estimates by the Exclusion Zone administration, there were around one thousand Russian soldiers on the territory of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and up to five hundred in the town of Chernobyl.

The Russians, who were withdrawing from the power plant, robbed it of, among other things, computer equipment. They also abducted 168 National Guard of Ukraine soldiers from Unit 3041, responsible for protecting the power plant. Some of them are still in Russian captivity in the territory of the world’s largest country (between 70 to 80 guardsmen, according to various sources). The last exchange of captives occurred on September 14th 2024 – when two guardsmen returned home.

As early as April 2nd, at eleven in the morning, the flag of Ukraine was once again hoisted on the mast at the industrial area of the power plant and the national anthem was sung. On April 3rd, the Ukrainian army confirmed that it had regained control of the Pripyat region of the city and part of the state border.

Consequences 

Almost immediately after the Russian troops left the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the Ukrainian Security Service entered the area. In less than a month, sappers of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine inspected more than 70 kilometres of roads and nearly a thousand facilities. More than 21,000 different types of explosives were secured in the Zone.

During their stay, Russian troops caused damage worth around 100 million euros. The most significant losses included damaging and stealing equipment from specialized radiological laboratories; stealing the server of the ASKRO system – used to automatically measure gamma radiation dose strength; stealing several hundred vehicles; taking away computers and office equipment; and destroying office facilities and living quarters. Phone network masts were also destroyed. We must not forget the destruction of bridges on the routes through Belarus connecting the Zone with the town of Slavutych.

Russian soldiers desecrated the building of the Chernobyl “Wormwood Star” museum during the occupation of the Exclusion Zone. However, they were not interested in the exhibits or the history and drama of the people who survived the 1986 accident. They took the TV sets out of the building. 

The occupiers also vandalized the building containing the ethnographic and archaeological exhibition titled “Memory of the Homeland”. Utility rooms and computer equipment were destroyed. Doors and windows were smashed. Fortunately, the exhibition and museum collections survived.

A less fortunate fate would affect Maria Prymachenko’s memorial site in Ivankiv, which burned down as a result of artillery shelling by the Russian army. Only some of the Ukrainian artist’s paintings survived.

However, the consequences of the occupation of the Zone by Russian troops go much further. Although Russian troops were forced to withdraw from areas of the northern Zone, the Kremlin succeeded in achieving decidedly different goals. The war is being fought on many fronts, and one of the most dangerous ones involves the human mind.

On the front lines of psychological war

In recent years, the concept of hybrid warfare and the psychological operations conducted as part of it have continued to gain popularity. The term psychological warfare conceals, among other things, the planned use of propaganda, as well as other means of public information, to influence the feelings, attitudes and behaviour of a group defined as an “enemy”. This tool is intended to assist the state that conducts it in the pursuit of its policies, objectives and military tasks. The activities included in the arsenal of psychological warfare measures are largely based on manipulating emotions, e.g. by spreading disinformation. The aim is to generate a sense of surprise, fear and anger among the enemy.

During the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of independent Ukraine, the events surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant became one of the key elements of the psychological war that the Kremlin has been successfully waging against western countries for many years.

On April 26th 1986, reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant malfunctioned. In the perception of millions of Europeans, these events have gone down as the biggest technogenic disaster in the world. However, if we compare this event to, for example, the accident at the chemical plant in Bhopal, India, it turns out that Chernobyl vanishes in the statistics.

However, a multitude of myths have arisen around the Ukrainian city, and the nuclear power plant accident itself has become a permanent part of the economic and social situation in Ukraine, as well as the entire post-Soviet bloc. The accident of almost forty years ago has taken on dimensions of martyrdom. Hundreds of thousands of people from all the countries of the former Soviet Union speak of suffering, for example, from radiation sickness, displacement or participation in the clean-up of the reactor disaster.

It is not surprising that the occupation of Chernobyl by Russian forces became one of the priorities during the first days of the ongoing invasion. Citizens of European countries were supposed to be chilled by the thought of Russian troops occupying this site, marked by a tragic history, and the potential tragedy that could occur there. Terrifying images from decades ago began to reappear, reflected in the headlines of the most popular European news services of the day. The Kremlin aimed to create fear and panic in western societies. In Poland, for example, this resulted in people buying up “Lugol’s iodine” medication from pharmacies as soon as news of the seizure of the power plant by Russian forces became public.

Russia’s games around Chernobyl contained a clear message to NATO countries in case of their possible involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. The Exclusion Zone was to be “held hostage” in the hands of the Russian military.

For many years, decision-makers from western countries were unaware of the extent to which the Kremlin had developed strategies of psychological warfare. We remained deaf to the warnings from experts analysing the phenomenon and to the glaring examples of this type of action directed against the Ukrainian state. The war affecting our eastern neighbour has provoked a series of measures within NATO countries aimed at defence against this serious threat. An excellent example of this is the Psychological Defence Agency set up in Sweden at the beginning of 2024, which is tasked with building resilience in society against foreign influence operations. In Poland, an interesting initiative can be seen in the appointment of a Plenipotentiary for Countering International Disinformation by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski.

Kremlin strategists want to feed us fear to weaken our collective mental resilience. In addition, everything points to the fact that these processes will intensify and expand into other spheres of parts of life. We have another important security lesson to learn, and on the other side a ruthless opponent that still seems to be better prepared for this fight than we are.

Tomasz Róg is a graduate in International Cultural Studies with a specialization in Russian studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He is also a journalist, local government official, and the creator of the website “licznikgeigera.pl”.

Karolina Zub-Lewińska is a specialized translator of Russian (listed in the register of translators of the Polish Chief Technical Organization), Eastern expert looking at the post-Soviet area through the prism of security and business opportunities, and a researcher in the field of security. She is a member of the Polish Society of Sworn and Specialized Translators TEPIS, the Polish Society for Security Studies and Polish Society for International Studies (section on Russia and the post-Soviet area, section on international security, section on studies of polar regions).

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Chernobyl, nuclear threat, psychological warfare, radiation, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian occupation, Ukraine, Ukraine at war