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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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POWER STRUGGLE The most harrowing period of the occupation began on March 9, when power was cut to the plant due to nearby fighting, Shelestiy said. Experts acknowledged there would be no repeat of the 1986 meltdown in the absence of a working reactor on the grounds. But electricity is nonetheless vital to power the security infrastructure, including the cooling systems for the spent nuclear fuel storage facility.