Russian forces are withdrawing from Chernobyl, Ukraine’s energy company reports.

Russian forces declared that they were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the nearby city of Slavutych, according to a statement Thursday from Ukraine’s state-run energy company.

The account supports a report from the Pentagon late on Wednesday that Russian troops were withdrawing from the area around the defunct plant in Ukraine’s north, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history and an area Russian forces had occupied for weeks. Russian forces seized the site near the Belarusian border, where workers have safeguarded nuclear waste since 1986, early in the invasion. For a time, they prevented the specialized staff required to keep the decommissioned plant safe from leaving their posts. Read more

@nytimes