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'No way out': Life under the Russians at Chernobyl

It began as a normal shift at Chernobyl for Oleksiy Shelestiy but as night turned to day on February 24, distant artillery fire and the arrival of Russian troops changed everything.

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More than 100 employees, who had arrived at the defunct nuclear plant for their night shift just hours earlier, were now trapped as Russian forces crossed into Ukraine and seized swathes of land on their way towards Kyiv. The capture of Chernobyl by Russian forces kicked off a weeks-long ordeal that saw power briefly cut at the facility and employees carefully monitored by the invaders.