Among them were servicemen of Ukraine’s National Guard who
defended the shuttered Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the first days of the
full-scale invasion.
The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, established to contain the
radioactive fallout from the 1986 disaster, lies on the border between Ukraine
and Belarus. Tasked with capturing Kyiv, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian troops and
armor poured across the border, with the Chornobyl NPP and the garrison there
standing in their way.
“Thanks to our guys, thanks to this unit, it was possible to prevent a second disaster in Chornobyl,” said Liudmyla, the mother of one of the soldiers who returned home on Oct. 2.
“They had to lay down their arms, because if they hadn’t,
Russian troops would have started shelling the NPP with heavy artillery. That
could have resulted in a new radiation leak. To avoid this, our children spent
more than three years in captivity.”
After suffering devastating losses in equipment and manpower,
Russian forces were forced to retreat from northern Ukraine—including from the
Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and the plant itself. Yet, in violation of all
international law, they took with them some of the plant’s personnel and
National Guard troops stationed there.
For three and a half years, Moscow refused to release them,
even as part of previous prisoner exchanges.