UKRAINE — Since the notorious meltdown and explosion of its No. 4 reactor in 1986, Chernobyl has become the global touchstone for what can go awry with nuclear power. …But somehow, the still-very-real health risks inherent to lingering around certain parts of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone just didn’t sink in with Russian soldiers who invaded Ukraine in 2022. Radiation sunk in, though—particularly after Russian troops dug into the zone’s heavily irradiated Red Forest. And today, some soldiers are still falling sick, according to diplomatic sources cited by The Independent. The Red Forest is the 10-square-kilometre (4 sq mi) area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant within the Exclusion Zone. The forest is so named because radiation killed the trees and turned their bark red. …Russian troops entrenched themselves in the forest’s soil—building trenches and an underground bunker network. If that were not enough, Russia’s garrison was hungry and went hunting and fishing around the Exclusion Zone.