Many of the Russian troops occupying the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl have left, Ukraine’s state nuclear company says.
Energoatom said two columns of Russian forces had set off towards the Belarusian border, leaving just a few at the site.
The announcement appears to confirm reports by senior US defence officials on Wednesday of a withdrawal.
Russian troops seized Chernobyl at the beginning of their invasion of Ukraine.
“This morning, the invaders announced their intentions to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,” Energoatom said in a statement, quoted by AFP news agency.
In recent days Russia has said it will scale down its operations in northern Ukraine around the capital Kyiv and focus its forces on the eastern Donbas region. Chernobyl is located north of Kyiv.
But on Thursday Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow was repositioning rather than withdrawing in order to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in Donbas.
“At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering,” he said.
There was no change in Russia’s objective to pursue a military outcome, he added.
The occupation of the Chernobyl site since 24 February, the day of the invasion, has been dogged with concerns about power outages and problems for the staff, many of whom were trapped there for weeks and could not get home.
Although no longer a working power station, Chernobyl was never fully abandoned and still requires constant management.
It is the site of what is considered to be the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.
The Russian withdrawal follows an announcement several days ago by the mayor of Slavutych, a nearby town housing workers at the plant, that Russian troops had left the town.
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