“I never understood why they took that in the first place.”
Yes, it made absolutely ZERO sense to do that.
Not if the Ukraine was making material to make nuclear weapons with.
Or storing it there which is more than likely if the facility is not operational. The radiation from weapons grade material would not be distinguishable from the radiation that is present there.
Chernobyl is a Kyiv suburb and on the direct invasion route from Belarus to Kyiv. The Russians attacked through it because it was lightly defended since who attacks a nuclear accident site? Putinist Russia, apparently.
Yeah, they totally should have run it by you guys first. Big tactical error there.
>>“I never understood why they took that in the first place.”
>Yes, it made absolutely ZERO sense to do that.
I think at least one of the reactors at Chernobyl is still in operation; after all they need energy to run the joint. There are possibly multiple objectives:
- stage troops and equipment where the Ukrainians might be reluctant to attack
- controlling a powerplant
- controlling access to nuclear materials
- strategic objective related to conducting the invasion (controls access, protects logistics, etc)
- something else a (Russian) military planner would find obvious...