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Comment by injb | Hacker News Reader

I think this is mainly a psychological move. It has people talking about nuclear fallout, radiation etc. That's the point.

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The most interesting part of Chernobyl to me isn't even the power plant, but what it was powering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duga_radar

Ah, no, I believe it's primarily a purely tactical advance. Chernobyl is directly in the Russian army's shortest path of advance on Kyiv.

If it turns out they don't try to take Kyiv, I stand corrected.

But practical necessity has certainly not stopped the Russians from also trying an infowar attack based on Chernobyl's totemic power, as you say.

Yeah the site is a massive liability for whoever controls it. There's a ton of work left to do to fully decommission it and make it safe.

What if, and bear with me, Russia doesn't care about safety?

Well then, Russian soldiers and Belarus will see some nuclear fallout.

Right now the wind is blowing North.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/bio/surface/level/anno...

It does pose the question what would actually happen should someone bomb the sarcophagus.

Unless the prevailing winds are really blowing towards the west, this would harm Russia and their newly conquered territory much more than it would harm the EU.

It makes more sense as a bargaining chip with Ukraine than as a chip with the EU.

> It makes more sense as a bargaining chip with Ukraine

What's the proposition? Russia's already committed to ending the idea of Ukraine as a country.

Should they fail a complete takeover they can threaten to blow up the fallout in negotiations.

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