Thick Russian soldiers get radiation sickness after boozy Chernobyl camp out

Bungling Russian troops got radiation sickness after camping out at Chernobyl.

They spent a fortnight sleeping, eating and drinking in the Red Forest next to the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster – even fishing in the reactor's cooling chamber.

Ukrainians living nearby warned the invaders of the dangers of what has remained one of the most radioactive places on Earth since the power plant blew up 37 years ago.

READ MORE: Paranoid Putin sacks 'Butcher of Mariupol' as dictator purges his inner circle

But locals said the troops – who arrived shortly after the Russian invasion in February last year (2022) – ignored them.

Oksana Pyshna, 30, an official responsible for the exclusion zone around the disaster site, said: "Don't try to find logic. It's stupid.

"It's the most dangerous territory in the special zone, because under the ground we have nuclear waste.''

Galyna Voloshnya, 74, who lives nearby, said: "I think they understood the risks but they're just thick.''

Soldiers who camped in the forest are now being treated for radiation sickness.

Military drone footage from the time showed they had dug trenches in the contaminated earth.

An abandoned ration box recovered from the scene gave off 50 times higher radiation than normal.

Safety chiefs said one soldier handled a source of cobalt-60 at a waste storage site with his bare hands exposing himself to so much radiation in a few seconds it went off the scales of a Geiger counter.

His fate is unknown.

While Chernobyl is not an active power station staff maintain the site of the nuclear accident to avoid further radiation leaks.

Two died in the 1986 blast, 28 perished from radiation sickness and up to 16,000 across Europe have since been killed by cancer experts believe was triggered by the catastrophe when a reactor core melted during safety tests showering 1,000 square miles with fallout.

For more stories from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

READ NEXT:

• Wagner mercenary ‘doesn’t regret’ brutal hand grenade execution of Ukrainian POWs
• Russian hackers targeting UK with aim to 'disrupt or destroy' critical infrastructure
• Wagner Group boss tells Putin to declare end of 'special military operation'
• Special forces from UK and US 'operating against Putin's troops in Ukraine'
• Wounded Ukrainian soldiers ‘beheaded’ by Russian troops in sickening video

Source: Read Full Article