War rehearsal amid the ruins
Chernobyl’s exclusion zone became the scene of urban warfare exercises by Ukrainian forces yesterday as Russia began military drills in neighbouring Belarus.
Units of Ukraine’s interior ministry forces and the national guard took part in exercises in the area that was evacuated after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.
Troops in winter camouflage could be seen moving among the ruins of Pripyat, the town for workers that was abandoned after the disaster. One exercise involved a simulated ambush.
Pripyat is 10km from the border with southern Belarus, where Russian and Belarusian forces have begun large-scale exercises of their own.
The military activity comes amid continuing concern about Russia’s build-up of about 100,000 troops near Ukraine, and the Kremlin’s demands for Nato to halt its expansion and withdraw troops from eastern Europe.
Western politicians have expressed fears that Russian forces in Belarus could rapidly be redeployed in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry said that S-400 missile systems, which had been transported 9000km from the far east of the country, had arrived near Brest in Belarus for the exercises. Tanks and Su-35 fighter aircraft will also take part.
Nato estimates 30,000 Russian troops are involved. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu oversaw live firing exercises near Brest just before the weekend. The drills, which will run until
February 20, have unsettled nerves in Ukraine and the Baltic states.
Ingrida Simontye, the Lithuanian prime minister, said that the deployment of Russian troops to Belarus ‘‘for ‘so-called exercises’ is a great concern to us. We must be ready to react at [the] European Union level.’’ She spoke after meeting her Estonian and Latvian counterparts in Oslo.
Yevgeny Kramarenko, the government official in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, said the exercises there were being held ‘‘in connection with the situation of increased protection and strengthened security of the external and internal borders of our state’’.
Soldiers are said to face little danger from radiation, as long as they avoid recorded hot spots. Kramarenko said the exercises would be undertaken with special care, bearing in mind the ‘‘unique nature of the territory’’.
Extra forces were deployed to
the Chernobyl border area in November as tensions increased with Russia and Belarus.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, has rejected claims by the United States government that Russia was planning a fake video of a Ukrainian attack on Russian territory to justify an invasion.
The claim was made without providing evidence and Peskov told reporters: ‘‘I would recommend not to take anyone at their word, especially the State Department, when it comes to these questions.’’