Russian forces ransacked Chernobyl, killed workers, kidnapped others and looted specialist equipment during their five-week occupation of the power plant.

© Provided by MetroExperts are now in the process of assessing the long term damage done at Chernobyl (Picture: Reuters / Getty / EPA)

Soldiers stole 698 computers, 344 vehicles, 1,500 radiation dosimeters, specialist software and every piece of firefighting equipment from the site, The Washington Post reports.

They also killed nine of the plant’s workers, kidnapped five and subjected those who remained working at the plant through the occupation to hours-long shifts.

Chernobyl became the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history when the plant’s Reactor Number Four caught fire and exploded on April 26, 1986.

The blast shattered the building and spewed radioactive material high into the atmosphere.

Many will doubtless remember that when Putin amassed his armies at various sites around the Ukrainian border & started sabre rattling, and voicing his fantasies about the Ukraine being Russian, with the intent of conquering the Sovereign Territory of Ukraine; I cautioned that I believed Putin may realise, at 69, he is in a terminal decline and the destruction of the Ukraine, which had defied him, was to be a part of his evil legacy.

I also opined that I believed he may well have terminal cancer, which I believed would be Prostate Cancer, possibly even metastasised Prostate Cancer. This was based on his age and his puffy appearance which was likely caused by the drugs (which may well prolong his life for 2 to 4 years).

I then hazarded a guess that his cancer and its treatment might well be causing Parkinson’s Disease like symptoms.

Increasingly it seems I was right as now, some 4 months later, America has leaked its own opinion, gathered through their intelligence services.

It seems also that Putin has, despite enacting law that entitles him to remain in office until 2036, it seems he has nominated his successor on the grounds that the power behind the throne shall be controlled by his 35 year old daughter!

Putin had ‘advanced cancer treatment in April’ according to US intelligence

Vladimir Putin received treatment for ‘advanced cancer’ in April, US intelligence sources have claimed.The Russian president’s health has been under intense scrutiny since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine amid footage of him looking bloated, with trembling hands and reports of mysterious disappearances. It has also been claimed the leader is constantly accompanied around the Kremlin by a team of doctorsRelated: Putin ‘given two or three years to live’ and is ‘losing his eyesight’ (Picture: Mikhail Metzel / Sputnik / AFP)

Soviet authorities attempted to keep the meltdown hidden from the public and the world only learned of the disaster when heightened radiation levels were detected in Sweden.

An exclusion zone of 1,000 square miles was enforced around the site with the aim of restricting access to hazardous areas and reducing the spread of radiological contamination.

The plant has not produced power for years but before the invasion, nearly 6,000 workers worked at the site monitoring the lasting effects of the 1986 meltdown and processing spent nuclear fuel from other plants in Ukraine and Europe.

© Provided by MetroSoldiers stole 698 computers, 344 vehicles, 1,500 radiation dosimeters, specialist software from Chernobyl (Picture: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

© Provided by MetroA room in an administrative building at Chernobyl where Ukrainian National Guard servicemen were held as hostages by Russian troops (Picture: EPA)

© Provided by MetroRussian soldiers ransacked Chernobyl stealing equipment and looting (Picture: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

From the outset of the invasion Russian forces were accused of recklessly shelling Chernobyl and ‘digging in’ defensive positions within the exclusion zone.

The plant was one of the first places to be overcome by Russian forces, with soldiers seizing the area on February 24, the first day of the invasion.

Many workers had been evacuated from the site but those who stayed were forced to work almost relentlessly trying to keep the area safe.

Now the site is back under Ukrainian control experts are attempting to work out the extent of the damage done to the nuclear plant and what it means for the surrounding area in terms of nuclear contamination.

Yevhen Kramarenko, the director of the Chernobyl exclusion zone said while Vladimir Putin’s forces were occupying the site they were also stealing and systematically destroying equipment.

© Provided by MetroOne worker said Russian troops had destroyed 30-years of work (Picture: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

© Provided by MetroDamage done to Chernobyl by Russian troops (Picture: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

He said his team had been able to locate some of the stolen equipment fitted with GPS trackers in Belarus.

‘We see that part of it is located on the territory of Belarus, along the border. And part moves around the territory of Belarus — Gomel, Minsk, other places,’ he told The Washington Post.

Among the stolen equipment were computers fitted with specialist software designed custom-made for Chernobyl.

Mykola Bespaly, 58, director of the site’s Central Analytical Laboratory said some of his team’s most important work to monitor radiation levels across the plant was almost impossible without it.

‘Now it is not possible to provide reliable information, whether the equipment is in working condition or not, because there is no software,’ he told The Washington Post

© Provided by MetroThe giant sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Credits: Reuters)

‘The Russians will not be able to use it because the software is unique, made specially for our devices.

‘I cannot say that they have caused damage to mankind, but certainly great economic damage to Ukraine,’ he added.

Leonid Bohdan, 59, head of the lab’s spectrometry and radiochemistry department who has worked at Chernobyl since 1986 said the Russian troops had ‘spoiled and plundered’ 30-years worth of work.

‘We will restore everything. It will all work again,’ he said.

‘But this is as if someone came to your house, saw that everything is well and beautiful, and therefore s***s on your white bed.’