Russia troops stationed at Chernobyl forest fall sick

Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest surrounding Chernobyl during their occupation of the area have been struck down with radiation sickness, authorities have confirmed.

- EMILY ATKINSON

Ukrainians living near the nuclear power station that exploded 37 years ago, and choked the surrounding area in radioactive contaminants, warned the Russians when they arrived against setting up camp in the Red Forest.

But the occupiers who, as one resident put it to The Times, “understood the risks” but were “just thick”, installed themselves in the forest, reportedly carved out trenches, fished in the reactor’s cooling channel – flush with catfish – and shot animals, leaving them dead on the roads.