As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain

Associated Press

As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain

Liudas Dapkus – March 31, 2022

  • FILE - People walk through Red Square after sunset in Moscow, Russia, on March 3, 2019, with the St. Basil's left, and the Spasskaya Tower, second right, in the background. Russian technology workers are fleeing the country by the tens of thousands as the economy goes into a tailspin under pressure from international sanctions. For some countries, Russia’s loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)People walk through Red Square after sunset in Moscow, Russia, on March 3, 2019, with the St. Basil’s left, and the Spasskaya Tower, second right, in the background. Russian technology workers are fleeing the country by the tens of thousands as the economy goes into a tailspin under pressure from international sanctions. For some countries, Russia’s loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
  • FILE - The Moscow City skyscrapers are seen during a sunset in Moscow, Russia, on July 15, 2018. Russian technology workers are fleeing the country by the tens of thousands as the economy goes into a tailspin under pressure from international sanctions. For some countries, Russia’s loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)The Moscow City skyscrapers are seen during a sunset in Moscow, Russia, on July 15, 2018. Russian technology workers are fleeing the country by the tens of thousands as the economy goes into a tailspin under pressure from international sanctions. For some countries, Russia’s loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Russia’s tech workers are looking for safer and more secure professional pastures.

By one estimate, up to 70,000 computer specialists, spooked by a sudden frost in the business and political climate, have bolted the country since Russia invaded Ukraine five weeks ago. Many more are expected to follow.

For some countries, Russia’s loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has noticed the brain drain even in the throes of a war that, according to the U.N. refugee agency, has caused more than 4 million people to flee Ukraine and displaced millions more within the country.

This week, Putin reacted to the exodus of tech professionals by approving legislation to eliminate income taxes between now and 2024 for individuals who work for information technology companies.

Some people in the vast new pool of high-tech exiles say they are in no rush to return home. An elite crowd furnished with European Union visas has relocated to Poland or the Baltic nations of Latvia and Lithuania.

A larger contingent has fallen back on countries where Russians do not need visas: Armenia, Georgia and the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In normal times, millions of less-skilled laborers emigrate from those economically shaky countries to comparatively more prosperous Russia.

Anastasia, a 24-year-old freelance computer systems analyst from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, chose Kyrgyzstan, where her husband has family.

“When we heard about the war on (Feb. 24), we thought it was probably time to leave, but that we might wait and see. On February 25, we bought our tickets and left,” Anastasia said. “There wasn’t much thinking to do.”

Like all the Russian workers contacted for this story, Anastasia asked to remain anonymous. Moscow was cracking down on dissent even before the invasion of Ukraine, and people living outside Russia still fear reprisals.

“As long as I can remember, there has always been fear around expressing one’s own views in Russia,” Anastasia said, adding that the war and “the background noise of patriotism” made the environment even more forbidding. “I left one day before they began searching and interrogating people at the border.”

The scale of the apparent brain drain was laid bare last week by Sergei Plugotarenko, the head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, an industry lobbying group.

“The first wave – 50,000-70,000 people – has already left,” Plugotarenko told a parliamentary committee.

Only the high cost of flights out of the country prevented an even larger mass exit. Another 100,000 tech workers nevertheless might leave Russia in April, Plugotarenko predicted.

Konstantin Siniushin, a managing partner at Untitled Ventures, a tech-focused venture capital fund based in Latvia, said that Russian tech firms with international customers had no choice but to move since many foreign companies are hastily distancing themselves from anything Russia-related.

“They had to leave the country so their business could survive, or, in the case of research and development workers, they were relocated by HQs,” Siniushin wrote in emailed remarks.

Untitled Ventures is helping in the migration; the firm charted two flights to Armenia carrying 300 tech workers from Russia, Siniushin said.

Some nearby countries are eager to reap the dividends.

Russian talent is primed for poaching. A 2020 Global Skills Index report published by Coursera, a leading provider of open online courses, found that people from Russia scored highest for skill proficiency in technology and data science.

As soon as the war started in Ukraine, the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan radically streamlined the process for obtaining work visas and residence permits for IT specialists.

Anton Filippov, a mobile app programmer from St. Petersburg, and the team of freelancers with whom he works made the move to Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, where he grew up, even before those incentives were made public.

“On February 24, it was like we had woken up to this different terrible reality,” Filippov said. “We’re all young, less than 27 years old, and so we were afraid we might be called up to take part in this war.”

As in-demand tech workers explore their options, their diaspora resembles a roaming caravan. Some countries, like Uzbekistan, are picked as stepping stones because Russian citizens do not need visas for short-term stays. But young professionals like Filippov do not plan to necessarily stay where they first landed.

“If the conditions they find differ from the ones they were promised, they will simply move on,” he said.

In many cases, entire companies are looking to relocate to avoid the fallout from international sanctions. A senior diplomat from another Russian neighbor, Kazakhstan, made a naked appeal this week for fleeing foreign enterprises to come to his country.

Kazakhstan is eyeing high-tech investors with particular interest as the country tries to diversify its economy, which relies on oil exports. In 2017, the government set up a technology park in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and offered tax breaks, preferential loans, and grants to anybody prepared to set up shop there.

The uptake has been moderate so far, but the hope is that the Russian brain drain will give this initiative a major shot in the arm.

“The accounts of Russian companies are being frozen, and their transactions do not go through. They are trying to keep customers, and one available opportunity is to go to Kazakhstan,” said Arman Abdrasilov, chairman of Zerde Holding, an investment fund in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s business hub.

Not all countries are so eager, though.

“Russian companies or startups cannot move to Lithuania,” said Inga Simanonyte, an adviser to the Baltic nation’s Economy and Innovation Minister. “We do not work with any Russian company with their possible relocation to Lithuania, and the ministry has suspended all applications for startup visas since February 24.”

Security concerns and suspicion that Russians might spy or engage in cyber mischief abroad make some governments wary about welcoming the country’s economic refugees.

“The IT sector in Russia is very closely connected to the security services. The problem is that without an extremely strong vetting process, we risk importing parts of the criminal system of Russia,” Lithuanian political analyst Marius Laurinavicius told The Associated Press.

Siniushin, the managing partner at Untitled Ventures, is urging Western nations to throw open their doors so their employers can take advantage of the unusual hiring opportunity the war created.

“The more talent that Europe or the United States can take away from Russia today, the more benefits these new innovators, whose potential will be fully realized abroad, will bring to other countries,” he said.

A Ukrainian army lieutenant says Russian soldiers keep ‘falling into the same traps’ as Putin’s commanders force them forward

Business Insider

A Ukrainian army lieutenant says Russian soldiers keep ‘falling into the same traps’ as Putin’s commanders force them forward

Jake Epstein – March 31, 2022

A destroyed Russian tank is seen at a position on March 31, 2022 in Malaya Rohan, Ukraine.
A destroyed Russian tank is seen at a position on March 31, 2022 in Malaya Rohan, Ukraine.Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images
  • A Ukrainian army lieutenant said Russian soldiers are fighting “stupidly” and without strategy.
  • Second Lt. Tatiana Chornovol told CBS News that Putin’s army is “falling into the same traps.”
  • “It’s pure evil what they did,” volunteer Ukrainian soldier Andriy Rogalski also said of Russian forces.

A Ukrainian army lieutenant said Russian soldiers are fighting “stupidly” and without strategy as President Vladimir Putin’s forces continue to make little military progress in their five-week-long war in the eastern European country.

“The Russians are fighting stupidly,” Second Lt. Tatiana Chornovol, a former politician, told CBS News in an interview that aired on Thursday. “They don’t have a strategy or tactics — they’re falling into the same traps and their commanders are just pushing them to advance.”

Volunteer Ukrainian soldier Andriy Rogalski criticized Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities in his own interview with CBS News.

“It’s pure evil what they did,” Rogalski, who said he worked as a crane operator and received just two weeks of basic training before heading to war, told CBS News.

Russia’s defense ministry said earlier this week it would scale down attacks in the northern part of Ukraine, as it planned to withdraw forces from around Kyiv and redirect focus on the eastern Donbas region.

The US and Ukraine have expressed skepticism with Russia’s claim — which comes amid ongoing peace negotiations — and said troop movement is likely a redeployment rather than a withdrawal.

Putin’s Soldiers Caught on Tape Lamenting Losses and Blasting His Army of ‘Stupid Morons’

Daily Beast

Putin’s Soldiers Caught on Tape Lamenting Losses and Blasting His Army of ‘Stupid Morons’

Allison Quinn – March 31, 2022

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is calling up another 134,500 conscripts even as more and more of his own soldiers appear to be turning on him over humiliating losses in Ukraine.

According to a decree published on a Russian government portal Thursday, the troops will be called to begin service on April 1 until July 15. The Defense Ministry promised earlier this week that they “will not be sent to any hot spots,” and that all those called up in last spring’s draft will be sent home.

But those assurances seem likely to be overshadowed by a multitude of reports that say Russia’s senseless war against Ukraine has been marred by lies from the top down, with Russian troops claiming they were misled into the war and Putin’s own advisers said to be shielding him from the extent of the devastating losses.

Even as Putin signed the decree on Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service released an intercepted call said to capture a Russian soldier railing against the incompetence of his own army.

“Our brigade has totally shit themselves. There are losses, many wounded,” he tells his wife.

Asked if the losses are a result of someone screwing up, he offers a blunt response: “The whole army with us is stupid morons.”

“It’s unclear why we are even here,” he says.

Another recording shared by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, captures a man identified as a Russian soldier named Maksim asking his mother what is being shown on Russian television, and if there are reports “they’re saying they will change anything.”

“Everything’s bad, almost no one among us is left. They said we will keep going until the very end, until everyone is killed,” he tells his mother.

Asked if his senior officer was still with the unit, he replies: “No, he dumped us yesterday. We’re all dead in the water if he left.”

We Are Falling Into Putin’s Evil Little Trap Again

The new recordings come just hours after Western officials said there was growing evidence of disarray and disillusionment among Russian troops, with Britain’s spy chief citing reports of troops “refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.”

Reporting by Meduza on Thursday largely aligned with Western assessments. Citing three sources close to the presidential administration, the news outlet reported that Russian military officials finally came to terms with the fact that they wouldn’t be able to seize control of Kyiv by late March. (Just a month earlier, according to Meduza, they were all but certain that the “special operation” would be quick, and the biggest headache would be organizing work by the “new administrations” put in place by Russia).

But they decided to shift their focus to the Donbas in the country’s east after realizing the full scale of military setbacks—and the damage wrought on the economy by Western sanctions.

Putin was personally presented with the reality of the sanctions only at the end of March, when officials showed him “the country will not be able to live normally under such sanctions,” one source was quoted telling Meduza.

The Russian leader has still not made a final decision on what he’s going to do next, and plenty of those close to him are reportedly pressuring him to go full steam ahead with the onslaught against Ukraine.

But the presidential administration is said to be concerned about how “a possible truce with Ukraine will hit Putin’s [approval] ratings.”

“The citizens were riled up by propaganda. Suppose a decision is made to stop at the territory of the Donbas. What about the Nazis then? Are we no longer fighting them? This word has been hammered into people so much that I can’t imagine how one can stop in Donbas without losing approval ratings,” one source told Meduza.

Perhaps as part of a long game, the Kremlin has now reportedly begun implementing plans to send psychologists from the FSB into Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine where residents continue to resist the Russian forces who took over after the Feb. 24 invasion.

“To implement a scenario for the creation of another pseudo-republic in the territory of the Kherson region, there is work underway by employees of the FSB, 652 groups of information and psychological operations and officers of the 12th Main Directorate of the [Russian] General Staff,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement Thursday.

Ukrainian officials said the FSB effort is an attempt to brainwash residents into supporting their new Russian authorities.

Russian law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges are also said to be on their way to occupied territories in Ukraine, with reports of Russian police officers being asked to take “business trips” to parts of the Donbas in Ukraine’s east.

Used as ‘cannon fodder’, the young Russians sent to their deaths in Ukraine

The Telegraph

Used as ‘cannon fodder’, the young Russians sent to their deaths in Ukraine

Verity Bowman – March 31, 2022

Alexander Bakharev with his mother, before the 23-year-old was killed on the frontline in Ukraine - Victoria Bakhareva
Alexander Bakharev with his mother, before the 23-year-old was killed on the frontline in Ukraine – Victoria Bakhareva

Twin brothers killed on the same day are among a growing number of young Russians sent to their deaths in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin is facing backlash as the number of soldiers killed on the front line soars – many of them young conscripts who were never meant to face the worst of the war.

The Russian president is embroiled in a feud with military leaders, who, according to reports, misled him on the use of young soldiers in the cities of Mariupol, Kherson and many others.

Shellshocked soldiers say they were sent over the border under the belief they were “saving” Ukrainians, only to meet a brutal battle raging much longer than promised.

Mothers have accused Putin of using their children as “cannon fodder” who had no idea they were being launched into a full-scale war. “They are young. They were unprepared,” a group shouted at officials earlier this month.

In the city of Novocherkassk, a pair of coffins, draped with the Russian flag and surrounded by hundreds of mourners, were lowered into the ground on Tuesday.

Inside were the bodies of two young men: Alexei and Anton Vorobyov, both 29. They had served side by side.

Alexei and Anton Vorobyov were killed on the same day in the war in Ukraine
Alexei and Anton Vorobyov were killed on the same day in the war in Ukraine

“Anton would say to me that he loved the service,” Anastasia Novikova, a childhood friend, told the Moscow Times. “I have many memories about Anton, and all of them are good memories. We never had a single fight in 19 years.”

They were killed three weeks into the invasion, leaving behind their partners – one of whom is expecting a child.

The funeral of Anton and Alexei Vorobyov on Tuesday, after their deaths fighting in the war in Ukraine
The funeral of Anton and Alexei Vorobyov on Tuesday, after their deaths fighting in the war in Ukraine

Their funeral was one of hundreds taking place across Russia.

Alexander Botalov, 22
Alexander Botalov was described as 'like a brother' to many of his friends - Yusvinskiye Novosti
Alexander Botalov was described as ‘like a brother’ to many of his friends – Yusvinskiye Novosti

Before Alexander Botalov left for war, he promised to return and give his mother a granddaughter.

He was born in a small village in the Yusva region, east of Moscow, the youngest to a big family.

His niece said it was impossible for people to understand just how “wonderful and beloved” he was without speaking to every person who knew him.

“He knew how to make friends and valued friendship. For many guys, he was like a brother,” Ksenia told the outlet.

Alexander, who to his family was known as Sasha and served as a contract soldier from the Perm Territory, would spend hours with his mother in the garden and was always first in line to help with housework.

He would “stand up for girls” and was “cheerful, sympathetic, incredibly friendly and courageous”.

Luka Yurievich, 22
Luka Yuievich was described as someone who 'valued friendship and learning'
Luka Yuievich was described as someone who ‘valued friendship and learning’

Luka Yuievich was remembered by his teachers for his first love. It was a “classic school romance”, Russian news outlet Vtruda quoted one as saying. “The teachers watched their touching and bright relationship with sympathy.”

He was described as a “serious athlete” who thrived in every sport he tried, and a boy who “valued friendship and learning”.

Alongside his classmates, Luka would wash a local war memorial out of respect for those who served in the Second World War.

“In most of the photographs, a slight half-smile does not leave Luka’s face,” said Olga Pavlovna, a former teacher.

Luka served as a corporal and was presented for the award of the Order of Courage posthumously.

Vladislav Salamatov, 20
'Everyone loved him,' said relatives of Vladislav Salamatov
‘Everyone loved him,’ said relatives of Vladislav Salamatov

“What can I say about Vlad? Everyone loved him,” his mother told Russian outlet Prufy.

The 20-year-old, who served as part of a reconnaissance company, was killed on March 9 – just two weeks after the invasion, leaving behind his parents and sister.

In the ninth grade he was sent to a cadet school, which his mother said “made him into a real man”. His only goal was joining Russia’s military. He was drafted immediately after finishing college.

Vladislav’s mother now asks why he could not serve in administration, rather than going to the front line.

“Everyone is crying,” she said. “The kids are crying, and the teachers are crying. He was an ordinary kid … This is universal grief. Please God let this all end.”

Alexander Bakharev, 23
Alexander Bakharev and his sister Victoria during their school years. The 23-year-old, of the Nikolaevsky district of the Volgograd region, died on the battlefield - Victoria Bakhareva
Alexander Bakharev and his sister Victoria during their school years. The 23-year-old, of the Nikolaevsky district of the Volgograd region, died on the battlefield – Victoria Bakhareva

All the men in Alexander Bakharev’s family were soldiers – and he wanted to follow in their footsteps. Aged 18, he was drafted into the army, then continued his service.

There was only a year’s age difference between him and his sister, so the pair spent every day of his childhood together.

“My brother was always very kind, open, honest,” Victoria told V1 RU. “Everyone probably says so, but Sasha really was always like that.”

Alexander, who served as a private, leaves behind his wife, Katya, and her two children, whom he loved like his own.

“They were waiting for his return, waiting for him to return home, ”said Victoria. “He said that he would definitely return home. And then we found out that Sasha is no more.”

Kirill Ulyashev, 21
A family photo of Kirill Ulyashev, who has died aged 21
A family photo of Kirill Ulyashev, who has died aged 21

At the end of Kirill Ulyashev’s funeral, the priest asked for pallbearers to carry the 21-year-old’s coffin.

“Please don’t. There’s nothing left to hold on to,” Kirill’s parents said, according to the Moscow Times.

Kirill joined the army as a conscript before becoming a paratrooper at the 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division.

“How can you be sure it’s him?” Ira Fedorova, his 20-year-old friend, asked the Moscow Times after his death. “We were told to just accept that he is no more.”

On February 26, Kirill sent a letter to his family telling them that he was safe and everything was ok. He was killed the next day.

Kirill died during an advance on the capital of Kyiv, his body left so damaged that his parents were barred from opening his coffin.

What is the Wagner Group?

The New York Times

What is the Wagner Group?

Victoria Kim – March 31, 2022

Mercenaries from the Wagner Group in Bangui, Central African Republic, on May 1, 2019.
Mercenaries from the Wagner Group in Bangui, Central African Republic, on May 1, 2019.

Unless you have been on the battlefield in Syria, Libya or the Central African Republic, you most likely have never heard of the Wagner Group, a private military force with close links to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Wagner forces have appeared in Ukraine, presumably to fight alongside Russian troops in Putin’s war. In the past month, the number of Wagner troops in the country has more than tripled to over 1,000. Their presence, in the eastern region known as Donbas that is home to Russia-backed separatist groups, raises concerns, given the group’s history. U.N. investigators and rights groups say Wagner troops have targeted civilians, conducted mass executions and looted private property in conflict zones.

Here’s what to know about Wagner:

How did Wagner get its start?

The entity first emerged in 2014, during Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The U.S. government has said that the organization is financed by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and a close associate of Putin. He has been referred to as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering business, which has staged elaborate state banquets for Putin.

How did the group get its name?

The group reportedly took its name from the nom de guerre of its leader, Dmitry Utkin, a retired Russian military officer. Utkin is said to have chosen Wagner to honor the composer, who was a favorite of Hitler’s. Despite the Kremlin’s denial of any ties to Wagner, Utkin has been photographed next to Putin.

Where is the group based?

The group is not registered as a legal entity anywhere in the world. Mercenaries are illegal under Russian law. Their shadowy existence allows Russia to downplay its battlefield casualties and distance itself from atrocities committed by Wagner fighters, observers say.

“It operates in a situation of opacity, there’s a real lack of transparency and that’s the whole point,” said Sorcha MacLeod, chair of the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries, which has scrutinized the group. Their structure allows them to have plausible deniability and to create “distance between the Russian state and the group,” she said.

Why are the mercenaries in Ukraine?

With Russia suffering heavy losses, according to U.S. intelligence, Putin is sending battle-hardened reinforcements with experience into Ukraine, according to experts, including Jeremy Fleming, the director of Britain’s electronic surveillance agency.

“These soldiers are likely to be used as cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses,” he has said.

Where do they recruit?

Some of the fighters appeared to have been recruited from Syria and Libya, the Pentagon’s spokesman, John F. Kirby, has said. He said Russia seemed to be turning to them to bolster its troops in the east of Ukraine because the group already had experience fighting in the Donbas region for the past eight years.

Where have Wagner forces been deployed?

In addition to their involvement in Syria, Libya, Central African Republic and Ukraine, Wagner operatives have also fought in Sudan, Mali and Mozambique, exerting Russian influence by proxy, doing the bidding of authoritarian leaders and, at times, seizing oil and gas fields or securing other material interests. Increasingly, they’ve become more formalized and have started acting more like Western military contractors.

“There’s a trend or pattern around what happens when Wagner is involved in an armed conflict,” MacLeod said. “The conflict is prolonged, involves heavy weaponry, civilians are impacted in substantial way, human rights violations and war crimes increase substantially and there’s no access justice for victims.”

Eighth Russian colonel Denis Kurilo killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine claims

Independent

Eighth Russian colonel Denis Kurilo killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine claims

Matt Mathers – March 31, 2022

A Ukrainian soldier patrols near a bridge destroyed by the Russian army in the town of Rogan, east of Kharkiv, 30 March 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier patrols near a bridge destroyed by the Russian army in the town of Rogan, east of Kharkiv, 30 March 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

An eighth Russian colonel has reportedly been killed in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s  troops continue to be hit by major setbacks more than a month into the war.

Colonel Denis Kurilo was “liquidated” by Ukraine soldiers amid fighting near Kharkiv earlier this week, the Ukrainian military said.

Western officials believe that around 20 Russian generals were deployed to Ukraine, meaning that if all the reported deaths are confirmed, nearly half have been killed in action since the invasion started on 24 February.

Mr Kurilo was in charge of the 200th separate motorised rifle brigade and had been leading Russia’s push into Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The mostly Russian-speaking urban centre has come under heavy bombardment by Kremlin troops but remains under the control of Ukraine.

Russia’s invasion has not gone to plan and is believed to have progressed far more slowly than the Kremlin had anticipated.

Mr Kurilo is the latest high profile military figure to have been wiped out.

Russia has lost between 7,000 and 15,000 troops since the fighting first broke out on 24 February, western military officials believe.

Ukraine said 1,500 of those losses occurred when two battalion groups in the 200th brigade were destroyed.

This map shows the extent of Russian invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)
This map shows the extent of Russian invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)

It was also revealed that Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Dormidontov was killed last week and his funeral was held in Russia on Wednesday.

A source in the Tatarstan region of Russia said: “Commander of the rocket artillery division, Lt-Col Dmitry Pavlovich Dormidontov, died while on duty.

“An enemy mine hit exactly in his dugout, where there were three officers: a division commander, a battalion commander and an aircraft controller.”

Fierce fighting has continued in several cities and areas across Ukraine in recent days despite the promise of peace talks on Tuesday.

Russian forces pounded areas around Ukraine’s capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said on Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places.

The shelling further tempered optimism about any progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

A rocket penetrates the roof of a home in Kharkiv, Ukraine after a Russian airstrike hit the city (Kim Sengupta/Independent)
A rocket penetrates the roof of a home in Kharkiv, Ukraine after a Russian airstrike hit the city (Kim Sengupta/Independent)

Russia did not spell out what exactly it planned to do differently, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward peace was coming into view, Ukraine’s president and others cautioned that the remarks could merely be bluster and the Kremlin’s spokesman said he saw no breakthrough in the talks.

Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling hit homes, shops, libraries and other “civilian infrastructure” in the northern city of Chernihiv and on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.

The barrages came as the UK’s Ministry of Defence warned that while heavy losses have forced some Russian units to return to Belarus and Russia, Moscow would likely compensate for any reduction in ground manoeuvres by using mass artillery and missile strikes.

The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said Russian troops were intensifying their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying some units from other areas.

This image shows overview and close views of downtown Mariupol, showing extensive damage at and near Mariupol Theater, where hundreds were recently killed by Russian bombs (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies)
This image shows overview and close views of downtown Mariupol, showing extensive damage at and near Mariupol Theater, where hundreds were recently killed by Russian bombs (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies)

As the war unleashed five weeks ago by Moscow ground on, so, too, did the fallout beyond Ukraine’s borders.

The UN said the number of refugees fleeing the country has now surpassed a staggering four million, while European industrial powerhouse Germany issued a warning over its natural gas supplies amid concerns that Russia could cut off deliveries unless it is paid in rubles.

Russian Troops Suffer ‘Acute Radiation Sickness’ After Digging Chernobyl Trenches

Daily Beast

Russian Troops Suffer ‘Acute Radiation Sickness’ After Digging Chernobyl Trenches

Barbie Latza Nadeau – March 31, 2022

Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering “acute radiation sickness” from contaminated soil, according to Ukrainian officials.

The troops, who dug trenches in a contaminated Red Forest near the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, are now reportedly being treated in a special medical facility in Gomel, Belarus. The forest is so named because thousands of pine trees turned red during the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area is considered so highly toxic that not even highly specialized Chernobyl workers are allowed to enter the zone.

Energoatom, the Ukrainian agency in charge of the country’s nuclear power stations, said the Russian soldiers had panicked and fled.

“It has been confirmed that the occupiers who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the Exclusion Zone set off in two columns towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus. The occupiers announced their intentions to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant this morning to the Ukrainian personnel of the station,” the agency said in a statement on Telegram, adding that a small number of Russians still remained at the facility.

The agency said it had also confirmed reports of Russian forces digging trenches in the Red Forest, “the most polluted in the entire exclusion zone.”

“Not surprisingly, the occupiers received significant doses of radiation and panicked at the first sign of illness. And it showed up very quickly.”

Local reports suggest that seven buses with the zapped troops arrived in Gomel early Thursday. Journalists on the ground have also reported “ghost buses” of dead soldiers being transported from Belarus to Russia under the cover of dark.

Ukraine Admits It’s ‘Impossible’ to Say if Chernobyl Is Safe

U.S. intelligence reported Wednesday that Russian forces began withdrawing from the defunct site. Russia said the withdrawal from Chernobyl was part of a pledge to scale back the invasion. But Ukrainian media says it is actually because the troops were “irradiated” from the contaminated soil.

“Another batch of Russian irradiated terrorists who seized the Chernobyl zone was brought to the Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel today,” Yaroslav Yemelianenko, who works for the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, posted on Facebook. “There are rules for dealing with this territory.”

The Chernobyl facility fell to Russian control on Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion. Workers were on duty for more than 600 hours before being allowed a shift change. International concern grew immediately when Russian troops moved heavy military hardware through the area, kicking up radioactive dust without any protective equipment. Forest fires in the area also raised concern about environmental contamination.

Digging trenches in the forest—considered the most contaminated area of the site—drew widespread ridicule from Ukrainians who work at the site.

The debacle is the latest in a series of missteps by the Russian troops struggling to keep their footing in their increasingly failed war.

Ukraine says most Russian forces have left Chernobyl nuclear plant, cites radiation concerns

Reuters

Ukraine says most Russian forces have left Chernobyl nuclear plant, cites radiation concerns

March 31, 2022

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows a New Safe Confinement structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Chernobyl

LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -The Ukrainian state nuclear company said on Thursday most of the Russian forces that occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after invading Ukraine have left the defunct plant, and suggested radiation concerns had driven them away.

Though Russian troops seized control of Chernobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plant’s Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986, causing the world’s worst nuclear accident.

State-owned Energoatom said these workers had flagged earlier on Thursday that Russian forces were planning to leave the territory.

“The information is confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have set off in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus,” it said in a statement.

It said a small number of Russian troops remained at Chernobyl, but did not specify how many. Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chernobyl live, it said.

In a separate online post, Energoatom said the Russian side had formally agreed to hand back to Ukraine the responsibility for protecting Chernobyl. It shared the scan of a document setting out such an arrangement and signed by individuals it identified as a senior staff member at Chernobyl, the Russian military official tasked with guarding Chernobyl, and others.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the document. There was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities, who have denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities in Ukraine at risk.

‘ALMOST A RIOT’

Energoatom said it had also confirmed information that Russian troops had built fortifications including trenches in the so-called Red Forest – the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl.

As a result of concerns about radiation, “almost a riot began to brew among the soldiers,” it said in the statement, suggesting this was the reason for their unexpected departure.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chernobyl and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops, whose presence prevented the rotation of the plant’s personnel for a time.

Earlier this week, workers at the site told Reuters that Russian soldiers had driven without radiation protection through the Red Forest, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust.

Asked to comment on the accounts from Chernobyl staff, Russia’s defence ministry did not respond.

Earlier on Thursday, the head of Energoatom urged the U.N. nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of Chernobyl and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is also occupied by Russian soldiers.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Timothy Heritage and Jonathan Oatis)

Workers at Chernobyl site say Russian soldiers drove through the highly-radioactive ‘Red Forest’ with no protective gear

Business Insider

Workers at Chernobyl site say Russian soldiers drove through the highly-radioactive ‘Red Forest’ with no protective gear

Marianne Guenot – March 31, 2022

A sign with the symbol for radioactivity is shown outside of the red forest.
A sign warns of radiation at the “red forest” near the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant on September 29, 2015.Sean Gallup/Getty Images
  • Russian soldiers drove armored vehicles through the ‘Red Forest’ as they invaded Chernobyl, per Reuters.
  • Reuters spoke to two unnamed Ukrainian staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
  • The soldier didn’t wear protective gear and exposed themselves to radioactive dust, they said.

Russian soldiers drove armored vehicles through the most contaminated area of Chernobyl’s exclusion zone with protection, two sources told Reuters.

The trip kicked up clouds of radioactive dust that could be damaging to the troops’ health, the outlet said.

One source told the outlet that the soldiers appeared to have no idea about Chernobyl’s history as a nuclear disaster site.

Reuters spoke to two Ukrainian workers who were on duty in the decommissioned power plant when Russian soldiers invaded the site on February 25 in the first days of the invasion of Ukraine.

The workers, who asked not to be named for fears about their safety, spoke to Reuters in late March.

By that time they had just been allowed home after being confined to the decommissioned power plant by Russian soldiers for almost a month.

A yellow sign shows in Cyrillic indicates the limit of the red forest in Ukraine.
The sign marks the territory of the Red Forest, Kyiv Region, northern Ukraine on April 21, 2021.Volodymyr Tarasov/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

The workers said that Russian soldiers drove armored vehicles through the Red Forest, 1.5 square miles of pine forest that died as a result of exposure shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. The Red Forest remains the most contaminated area of the zone around Chernobyl, per Reuters.

“The convoy kicked up a big column of dust,” one source said, per Reuters.

One worker told Reuters that some of the soldiers he had spoken to in the plant “did not have a clue” about the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

“They had no idea what kind of facility they were at,” the worker said.

The worker’s accounts are in line with reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said shortly after Russian troops moved into the exclusion zone that remote sensors showed the invasion had disturbed radioactive dust, raising the level of radiation around the site.

The plant has been under the control of Russian troops since February 24. The power plant was fully decommissioned after the 1986 nuclear accident and the remaining work at the site is mostly directed toward decontamination.

An active nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia in the south of Ukraine has also been captured and has been operating under the control of Russian troops since March 4.

The invasion of nuclear sites by the military caused outrage among nuclear experts.

Several told Insider that the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident at either of the nuclear sites remains low, but is more likely because of the nearby fighting.

The occupation of the Chernobyl site might soon be coming to an end, according to an unnamed US defense official.

The official told France 24 on Wednesday that the Russian troops looked like they were being removed from Chernobyl and repositioned in Belarus, which has a border with Ukraine around 10 miles from the Chernobyl site.

Norway told to get Cold War bunkers ready amid fears of nuclear fallout

Yahoo! News

Norway told to get Cold War bunkers ready amid fears of nuclear fallout

Andy Wells, Freelance Writer – March 31, 2022

Pripyat , Ukraine; 14 June 2019; Pripyat is a ghost city in northern Ukraine, founded as the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union, to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of April 27, 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster.
A radiation warning at Pripyat, Ukraine, a ghost city that was evacuated the day after the Chernobyl disaster. (Getty)

Fears of another Chernobyl-like disaster in Ukraine have prompted warnings in Norway for citizens to “dust off” Cold War bunkers.

Since invading Ukraine last month, Russian troops have occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia as well as at the now defunct plant at Chernobyl, the scene of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.

Odd Roger Enoksen, Norway’s defence minister, has now aired concerns that any accident at a Ukrainian power plant that cause a radiation leak could impact his own country if the wind travels in its direction.

According to The Times, defence sources have told civilians in Norway to start “dusting off” their bunkers at home “in case of nuclear alert”.

A view shows the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, April 12, 2021. Picture taken with a drone April 12, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
A view shows the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine. (Reuters)
Service members take part in tactical exercises, which are conducted by the Ukrainian National Guard, Armed Forces, special operations units and simulate a crisis situation in an urban settlement, in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine, February 4, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Service members take part in tactical exercises in the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine. (Reuters)

The source told the paper: “Everyone has been warned so if they are using them for storage now they need to make a plan for taking things out.”

A 72-hour warning would be given in advance to get bunkers ready for use.

Enoksen calmed fears that the warning was due to the threat of a nuclear war, rather than fallout from an accident.

He said: “Ukraine has the most production of nuclear power in Europe and if an accident happens, as with Chernobyl, we will all in western Europe be affected by that if the wind goes in this direction.”

Watch: Ukraine warns of Chernobyl radiation leak after power cut

Ukraine warns of Chernobyl radiation leak after power cut

Ukraine has warned that radiation could be released from Chernobyl. The nuclear power plant, which is currently under the control of Russian troops, has been knocked off the power grid and cannot cool spent nuclear fuel.

He said Norway was still able to see the effects of Chernobyl adding: “In summer time we can actually see ashes from burning grass in Ukraine.”

The warning comes as US defense officials said Russian forces may have begun to pull out of Chernobyl.

According to the AFP news agency, US defense officials said troops had begun walking away from Chernobyl and moving to Belarus. “We think that they are leaving. I can’t tell you that they’re all gone,” they said.

Norway, which shares a 12-mile land border with Russia, made it compulsory for bunkers to be built in civilian infrastructure like hotels during the Cold War-era.

Norwegians have also been told to stock up on medicines for children in case of radioactive fallout.

Norway's defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen said Norway was still able to see the effects of the Chernobyl disaster. (Reuters)
Norway’s defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen said Norway was still able to see the effects of the Chernobyl disaster. (Reuters)

The warnings come as the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear company urged the UN nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of nuclear power plants occupied by Russian forces.

Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin said earlier this month that Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom had sent officials to the Zaporizhzhia plant to try to take control of it.

Representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to inspect the country’s nuclear facilities after Kyiv claimed that munitions stored near Chernobyl could explode.

An aerial view from a plane shows a New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during a tour to the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine April 3, 2021. Ukraine International Airlines made a special offer marking the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Tourists get a bird's eye view of abandoned buildings in the ghost town of Pripyat and the massive domed structure covering a reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant that exploded on April 26, 1986. Picture taken April 3, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
A New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine. (Reuters)

IAEA chief Rafael Grosso, along with various experts and equipment aimed at keeping nuclear facilities there safe, are on hand for assistance.

Since Russia’s invasion, Grossi has called on both countries to urgently agree a framework to ensure nuclear facilities are safe and secure.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chernobyl and demanded Russian forces occupying the plant pull out of the area.

The Russian military said after capturing the plant that radiation was within normal levels and their actions prevented possible “nuclear provocations” by Ukrainian nationalists.

Russia has denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities inside Ukraine at risk.