The Ukrainian national flag was raised above the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Saturday morning at 11:00 local (08:00 GMT), as workers sung the national anthem and celebrated the departure of Russian troops who had occupied the site for weeks.
“The flag-raising ceremony was attended by the station’s operational personnel, who have been ensuring and continue to ensure the nuclear and radiation safety of the facilities during the difficult conditions of the occupation,” Energoatom posted on its Telegram channel.
The state nuclear company said all Russian forces had now left. Russian troops first occupied the decommissioned station north of Kyiv last month after the invasion was launched.
Ukraine says it is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to find out what happened at the site while Russian forces were in control of it.
“Russia behaved irresponsibly in Chernobyl on all accounts, from not allowing personnel of the station to perform their functions to digging trenches in the contaminated areas,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday.
