A Chernobyl employee talks about negotiations to save the Russian occupation and nuclear power plant

What happened when the Ukrainian Chernobyl nuclear power plant was occupied by the Russian army for 35 days? At the time, the Ukrainian Russians feared that a nuclear catastrophe would have tragic consequences throughout Europe. In the end it didn’t happen. Many thanks to the Chernobyl staff who ensured the safety of the plant despite the Russian occupation.

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“On February 23 at 8:45 pm, as usual, I took my post for twelve hours and did not leave it for 45 days.”, Says Valerie Semyonov. This engineer in charge of security at Chernobyl was trapped in the plant from the beginning of the Russian invasion. “At 5pm on February 24th, I noticed smoke clouds on my surveillance camera.The engineer explains. Two troop carriers, a truck and a Russian tanker were evacuated. “

The fight will be very short as both Ukrainians and Russians are aware of the huge danger if the shell falls on the plant. So, even if the war loses the vital electricity for Chernobyl’s cooling, even if the emergency generators run out of diesel, they will work together.

“So we said to the Russians, ‘You keep us busy, so it’s yours to deal with this problem!’

Valery Semyonov, Chernobyl Defense Engineer

at franceinfo

“On the first day, four tankers brought back dieselReports the engineer. Except we said we need 27 tons per day. So after the fourth day of no electricity, they gave us a final warning. We agreed to connect the plant to the Belarusian electricity network, or they stopped supply. We had to accept. “

Valerie says that the diesel supplied by the Russians failed to invade Kiev and indirectly saved the Ukrainian capital at Chernobyl.