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An overlooked threat in Ukraine: poachers in Chernobyl’s irradiated forests | GUEST COMMENTARY

A sign at the edge of a forest warns of radiation contamination and prohibits the picking of berries and mushrooms on April 4, 2016 near Chachersk, Belarus. Chachersk, located in south-eastern Belarus, is in a zone designated as still contaminated to varying degrees with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, especially caesium-137. Numerous areas nearby are off-limits to visitors and signs on the edges of forests warn of radiation.  (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
A sign at the edge of a forest warns of radiation contamination and prohibits the picking of berries and mushrooms on April 4, 2016 near Chachersk, Belarus. Chachersk, located in south-eastern Belarus, is in a zone designated as still contaminated to varying degrees with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, especially caesium-137. Numerous areas nearby are off-limits to visitors and signs on the edges of forests warn of radiation. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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An untold story about the Russian Invasion of Ukraine involves poachers in the still highly irradiated forests of Chernobyl. When they remove unauthorized material from the area — whether it’s animals they hunt and kill, wild fruits they harvest or scrap metal they steal — they’re exposing uncountable numbers of people to radiation sickness and premature death.

It’s a story the world needs to know ...

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