Ukraine war: University of Portsmouth professor says scientific friends in Kyiv are preparing to leave city

Professor Jim Smith researches radioactivity and has investigated nuclear fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster both in this country and in Ukraine, and first met Ukrainian scientists when he, like them, was researching nuclear fallout levels in the Lake District.

Three years ago he hit the headlines as he was part of a team which distilled vodka from crops around Chernobyl.

Professor Smith said: ‘I’ve been going there since 1994, and I’ve worked in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

‘I’m a Slavophile, and I’m very interested in the history and culture. That region has been fought over for centuries, and there is a strong sense of national pride.

‘I’ve been in touch with my friends and a few weeks ago they were fairly relaxed. But one of them is moving his family out of Kyiv. They are preparing to leave.’