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Shop NowRussian troops have seized control of Chernobyl, site of the infamous 1986 nuclear disaster, after a short battle with defending Ukrainian forces. News that there was fighting around Chernobyl was a shock to many in the West, but military analysts say that Russia’s assault on the site likely has little to do with the disaster zone itself; Russian planners evidently decided that smashing through Ukrainian defenses there was essential to launching their attack on Kiev.
Russians break through at Chernobyl
Russian troops pushed south into Ukrainian territory from Belarus, a close ally of Moscow. Belarus is clearly collaborating with Russia but active involvement by its military has not been confirmed.
The fastest route to Kiev is through Belarus, but attacking from the north meant that Russians had to travel through the still radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Ukrainian National Guard troops had already been deployed to defend the area, so fighting broke out when the Russians arrived in the area of the old nuclear power plant.
The exploded reactor is contained within a large sarcophagus which limits radiation leakage while work progresses on dismantling the site and cleaning up waste.
Details of the battle are largely unknown beyond the fact that Russia took control of the area within a few hours. The extent of damage to the nuclear plant, if there is any, has not been announced.
Breaking through quickly was essential for the Russian effort to threaten Kiev from the west bank of the Dnieper and to relieve elite airborne troops landed behind enemy lines.
Invasion plans taking shape
These Russian VDV troops captured an airport near Kiev in an early and unexpected attack as the ground invasion was just beginning. Reports about fighting in the area since then have been extremely confused and conflicted.
What is clear is that a rapid advance through Chernobyl was essential for the Russians to prevent the loss of these elite troops and keep the airport open for transporting supplies and reinforcements.
The best Ukrainian forces are concentrated in the country’s east, where the Russian advance has been limited and fighting is expected to be heaviest.
Given the areas in which they have advanced quickly, the Russians likely intend to pin those Ukrainian forces in place while they advance through the country from the north and south to cut them off from Kiev and the west.
If they can pull it off, the strategy will cripple the Ukrainian government and military and give Putin the rapid victory his government needs to avoid a serious decline in public approval.
Chernobyl may be a low priority for most observers as the Russians seek to carry out the next phases of their invasion plans, but experts will be waiting anxiously for confirmation that there is no risk of another nuclear disaster at the site.
