The capture of Chernobyl was strategically important for Russia – radiation values ​​have risen near the nuclear power plant, the risk to Finland is small

Soldiers of the Russian armed forces took over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant area on Thursday morning. The conquest took place soon after the attack on Ukraine had begun.

Nuclear power plant workers were taken hostage.

According to news agency data, the takeover of the area progressed rapidly. The data suggest that Russia used special forces to take over.

Russia’s defense ministry has confirmed that the country is using special parachute forces to protect the Chernobyl area.

“This indicates that it is a significant target for Russia,” says a military professor at the National Defense University. Marko Palokangas says to .

To the British Ambassador to Ukraine Vadym Prystaikon according to Chernobyl was a gap in Ukraine’s defense.

– The area was not protected militarily because of the danger of radiation, Prystaiko said in an interview with the British news channel Sky News.

According to Palokangas, taking over Chernobyl offers Russia significant strategic benefits. The area is located on the Russian offensive route from Belarus to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

Kiev is located about 95 kilometers south of Chernobyl.

– Chernobyl protects the deployment of additional troops towards Kiev without the threat of a local counterattack, Palokangas says.

According to him, the takeover of the power plant can also form an intermediate goal or a replenishment point for the first and second stages of the ground attack, as well as additional troops.

– This will allow troops to be serviced at a target where counter-attacks by Ukraine are unlikely due to the nuclear threat, he continues.

International experts also believe that the capture of Chernobyl was important for Russia for military strategic reasons.

– As troops move towards Kiev from the Belarus-Russia border, they will have to pass through Chernobyl, said the defense expert John Blaxland To the Australian broadcaster ABC.

He works as a professor of international security policy at the National University of Australia.

According to Blaxland, the takeover of the nuclear power plant area shows that Russia’s goal from the beginning was to take over Kiev.

Former Chief of Staff of the United States Army Jack Keane he also tells Reuters that Chernobyl was captured precisely because of its strategically important location.

– It is located on one of the four main offensive routes that Russia uses to take over Ukraine, he estimates.

According to experts, Russia is well aware of the dangers of Chernobyl.

Former President of the United States Barack Obaman Deputy Minister of Defense during the administration Evelyn Farkas believes that it was important for Russia to ensure security in the region.

– Moscow wants to ensure that Chernobyl remains safe in the event that the war in Ukraine becomes long-lasting and Russia intends to occupy Ukraine for a long time, Farkas told the American To the NBC news channel. (switch to another service)

Palokangas of the National Defense College considers it possible that Putin wants to use Chernobyl control as a means of pressure against the West and Ukraine.

– Considering the activities of the Putin and Russian armed forces, it is quite possible that the takeover of the nuclear power plant and even the threat of it could be used as a means of pressure, he estimates.

According to Palokangas, this is precisely what is involved in hybrid warfare, the purpose of which is to paralyze the Ukrainian administration’s ability to function both physically and mentally.

“However, I consider it less likely than the importance of Chernobyl’s strategic protection of the Russian armed forces,” he says.

In Finland, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority monitors the situation at the nuclear power plant. According to it, Finns do not have to worry about radiation levels rising to dangerous levels here.

– We are constantly monitoring radiation values ​​in Finland and they have remained at a normal level, Deputy Director of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority Tomi Routamo tells .

According to him, the values ​​are at a normal level elsewhere in Europe as well.

– When the reactor was damaged in 1986, radioactive material was released into its environment and soil, which is still there. When there is movement in the area and there is heavy equipment, dust rises from the ground into the air and with it the level of radiation rises, he estimates.

The dust makes the breathing air such that it is not healthy to breathe, according to Routamo.

– This dangerous dust may travel with the wind even further, but in such low concentrations that there is no danger to people.

Chernobyl is still one of the most radioactive areas in the world.

That is why the fact that the region is under war is very worrying, Marko Palokangas says.

“Several international nuclear technology experts have expressed concern about the situation, as the region’s infrastructure is not designed to withstand hostilities,” he says.

According to Palokangas, long-range weapons such as air force bombing, missiles and rocket launcher and artillery fire could cause significant damage to the new containment built to protect the accident reactor.

In this case, however, the effects would remain local.

– Even if the reactor remains or fuel are damaged in some way, there is no need to worry about this in Finland. It is not possible to transport such quantities of hazardous substances to Finland that it would be harmful to human health, says Radamo of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority.

He adds, however, that locally, levels could rise to dangerous levels if heavy warfare is applied to the area.

Palokangas recalls that military and armed force against a nuclear power plant is always a war operation contrary to the rules of war.

“In this case, Russia’s actions in Chernobyl and the takeover and possession of a nuclear power plant violate international rules of war law,” he says.

The explosion of the four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the spring of 1986 is the world’s most devastating nuclear accident. Hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from the surrounding area, leaving dozens of villages and towns deserted.

You can discuss the topic until Saturday 26.2. until 11 p.m.