True, but the Russians are also counting on the idea that Ukrainian forces do not want to release that fallout back on to their own territory and that European forces do not want radioactive particles wafting back over into continental Europe.
Russia has calculated that while an attack would be bad for the Russian forces at Chernobyl, it would actually be much worse for the allied forces.
> True, but the Russians are also counting on the idea that Ukrainian forces do not want to release that fallout back on to their own territory
Unless there is no Ukraine. Blowing it up is the closest thing Ukraine has to a nuke and it would take out any troops stationed there. It would be a horrific thing to do though and I don't think the Ukrainian leadership has the demeanor to do it.
Russian military generally played wars with an assumed unit cost of approximately zero. They still appear to do so, despite the declining birth rate (there's a reason russian roulette is called as it is)
