Ukrainian armed forces prepare Chernobyl exclusion zone for possible Russian offensive

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have begun active preparations of the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant for a possible Russian offensive.

This is reported by the German outlet Der Spiegel.

According to the publication, checkpoints interrupt traffic in the zone every few kilometers. Ukrainian troops are digging trenches and pits and clearing nearby forests to construct defensive fortifications. Nets have been stretched over roads in the area around the nuclear plant to protect against Russian drones.

Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel also blew up a railway bridge that had been used to transport Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers out of the exclusion zone. After the bridge was destroyed, station employees were forced to move into temporary dormitories set up in former administrative buildings on the facility’s grounds. They return home rarely — only twice a month.

Earlier, a fire that had burned for two weeks in the Chernobyl exclusion zone was extinguished.