Ukraine state nuclear firm says all Russian forces have left Chernobyl power station

The Ukrainian state nuclear company has announced that all of the Russian forces occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power station have withdrawn from the territory of the defunct site.

According to Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom, staff at the plant said there are currently no “outsiders” at the site.

In a statement released on Thursday morning, March 31, Energoatom said that “the invaders announced their intentions to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.”

Reuters reported that the U.N. nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it is preparing to send a mission to the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine.

Russian troops seized Chernobyl at the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

Fears were raised by Ukraine over the possibility of radiation leaks from the old reactor site.

In recent days Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk had warned that Russian forces were “militarising” the site and storing a large amount of ammunition “in close proximity” to the Chernobyl nuclear power station.

The head of Ukraine’s agency in charge of the exclusion zone, Yevhen Kramarenko, said that radiation levels appeared to be normal and there was no indication of significant damage.

Kramarenko added that as the sensors for detecting radiation levels were not working, staff needed to check the facilities, the BBC reported.

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