According to Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom, plant staff said there are currently no “outsiders” at the site.

Earlier, he said some Russian forces had departed for the border with Belarus, leaving a small group behind.

The announcement appears to confirm reports of a pullout released Wednesday by senior US defense officials.

Russian troops seized Chernobyl at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine

Troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “appeared very quickly,” and began to leave, Energoatom said.

Russia took control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant virtually from the start of the war on February 24, raising fears it would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation.

This Thursday, Energoatom staff oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the exploding reactor.

Why did Russia withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear plant?

The pullout came amid ongoing fighting and signs the Kremlin is using de-escalation as a cover to regroup and resupply to step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, explained that his country sees the withdrawal as an effort by the Russian military to readjust and resupply.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is seeing “a buildup of Russian forces for new attacks in Donbas, and we are preparing for that.”

The Russian occupation of Chernobyl raised fears that security standards inside the exclusion zone could be compromised.

A week ago, Ukraine’s government said Russian forces looted and destroyed a laboratory near the abandoned nuclear plant, which was used to monitor radioactive waste.

Russia has been targeting civilian infrastructure, such as power plants, during its invasion of Ukraine, according to Mason Clark, senior Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.