Russian and Ukrainian forces fought on Thursday for control of Chernobyl, the still radioactive site of the world’s worst nuclear accident and a factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted before the defunct nuclear power plant, scene of a deadly fire and explosion in 1986, was captured by Russian forces.
But why would anyone want an inoperative power plant surrounded by miles of radioactive land?
The answer is geography: Chernobyl sits on the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, Ukrainian’s capital, and so runs along a logical line of attack for the Russian forces invading Ukraine.
In seizing Chernobyl, Western military analysts said Russia was simply using the fastest invasion route from Belarus, an ally of Moscow and a staging ground for Russian troops, to Kyiv.
“It was the quickest way from A to B,” said James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.
Jack Keane, a former chief of the U.S. Army staff, said Chernobyl “doesn’t have any military significance” but sits on the shortest route from Belarus to Kyiv, the target of a Russian “decapitation” strategy to oust the Ukrainian government.
