Inside trashed Chernobyl where Russian occupiers spread radioactive material & grabbed deadly cobalt-60 with bare HANDS

PHOTOS reveal the state of disarray careless Russian troops left the highly sensitive Chernobyl nuclear site – as it emerges one soldier allegedly grabbed radioactive material with his bare hands.

Valeriy Simyonov, the site’s chief safety engineer, says the Russian solider wasn’t wearing gloves when he handled the radioactive isotope cobalt-60.

In just a few seconds he exposed himself to so much radiation that it went off the scales of the Geiger counter, the reported.

It is not known what happened to the solider after touching the material which brings risk of deadly health issues including cancer, years later.

It’s also believed the Kremlin’s forces contaminated the grounds from material on their shoes carried back from Chernobyl’s nearby Red Forest, increasing the radiation levels at the plant.

Chernobyl, which was seized by Russian forces on February 24 before being deserted last week, is considered one of the most radioactive places on earth after the deadly nuclear disaster in 1986.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko told CNN: “It’s crazy, really. I really have no idea why they did it.

“But we can see they went in there, the soldiers who went there, came back here and the level of radiation increased.”

Images taken from inside the administrative building of the nuclear power plant show rooms where national guardsman are believed to have been held as hostages.

Towels, items of clothing and sleeping bags are strewn about the room among the mess left in the wake of the Russians taking over Chernobyl.

Food wrappings, military gear and a blackened cooking pot indicate a number of people spent time living in the rooms.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyy says occupiers raided the guardsman’s personal items.

He said: “The Russian military went through all Ukrainian clothes, personal belongings, like dogs, in search of, probably, money, valuables, laptops. There was looting here.

“The Russian military stole computers and equipment.”

Monastyrskyy claims the Russian troops kept 169 Ukraine National Guard Soldiers with no access or light, air or information.

He alleges the group have been taken to Russia through Belarus.

Monastyrskyy told : “They were kept here for 30 days without sufficient lighting and food. They were not allowed outside.

“On the last day they were taken away from here to an unknown direction. Today we know nothing about their fate unfortunately.

It follows images showing trenches dug by Russian soldiers at Chernobyl, reportedly leaving them struck down with radiation sickness.

Vladimir Putin’s troops occupied site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, after they captured it in the early days of their Ukraine invasion.

Dozens of Russian soldiers are said to have been struck down with acute radiation sickness and were taken in seven busses back across the border in nearby Belarus.

The site of the 1986 nuclear tragedy in northern Ukraine was captured in the opening days of the war, sparking fears of a major radioactive disaster as a result of heavy fighting around the plant.

Russian troops dug trenches in the highly toxic Red Forest zone, just a few miles west of the plant, but have now retreated as part of a pull-out from around the capital Kyiv.