Russians leave Chernobyl after troops reportedly receive 'significant doses' of radiation

Eastern parts of the country are braced for renewed attacks and Russians blocked another aid mission to the besieged port city of Mariupol

The shelter construction cover above the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine. FIle Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File

Russian troops left the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site early Friday after returning control to the Ukrainians, authorities said, as eastern parts of the country were braced for renewed attacks and Russians blocked another aid mission to the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Ukraine’s state power company, Energoatom, said the pull-out at Chernobyl came after soldiers received “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant, although  there was no independent confirmation of that.