International nuclear monitors are preparing to return to the stricken Chernobyl nuclear power plant — site of the deadly 1986 meltdown — as soon as Russian troops complete their withdrawal and Ukrainian operators take back control.
International Atomic Energy Agency monitors will be on the ground “very soon,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said at a news briefing in Vienna. The Argentine diplomat returned Friday from a week-long trip to Ukraine and Russia, where he worked out separate deals to boost the safety and security of nuclear sites amid a military conflict now in its second month.
Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine on Feb. 24 and targeted Chernobyl from the outset as its troops marched over the border from Belarus. Russian is now retreating from northern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive. The Kremlin has said it will focus on Ukraine’s eastern regions.
