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Workers at the Chernobyl nuclear site claim that Russian soldiers who seized the plant have been driving through the highly contaminated "Red Forest" without adequate protection against the radiation.
Two workers told Reuters that the troops drove their tanks and armored vehicles through the area, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust in their wake.
"A big convoy of military vehicles drove along a road right behind our facility, and this road goes past the Red Forest," said one of the workers.
"The convoy kicked up a big column of dust. Many radiation safety sensors showed exceeded levels," he added.
One of the workers called the soldiers "suicidal" because they likely inhaled the dust, which could irradiate them from the inside out.
Russian troops took over the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in the early days of their invasion of Ukraine. They have controlled the site and the neighboring town of Slavutych. During the occupation, the workers have continued to monitor the remains of the nuclear reactor.
On Sunday (March 27), Russian forces left Slavutych, the city's mayor announced in a video post.
"They completed the work they had set out to do," Yuri Fomichev said, according to Reuters. "They surveyed the town, today they finished doing it and left the town. There aren't any in the town right now."