‘They were hooligans’: Chernobyl locals reeling after Russian invasion
Posted: 14th April 2022
A burned-out Russian armoured vehicle with ‘Glory to Ukraine’ written on it. Photograph: Sviatoslav Medyk/The GuardianAs troops leave exclusion zone and surrounding villages, Ukraine’s nuclear agency faces huge clean-up task
Luke Harding in Dytiatky
Wed 13 Apr 2022 16.59 BSTStanding next to a Chernobyl checkpoint, Vasily Davidenko recalled the day Russia invaded. “They were hooligans,” he said, pointing to a tourist kiosk shot up and adorned with the words “Chernobyl ice-cream”. Next to a pockmarked bus stop was debris left behind by Vladimir Putin’s army: machine-gun bullets, cigarette packets and an empty tin of tuna.