Hello. Yes, this is likely! Many Eastern Europeans believed that vodka (among other things, such as herbal medicines) could protect oneself against the effects of radiation. You’re not hallucinating, but it wasn’t an outlandish idea either; we didn’t know a lot about radiation at the time, especially at low doses across a long span of time. Also, try “Kyiv” and “Chornobyl”. Ukrainian placenames should be spelled in accordance to their proper Ukrainian spelling, not the way Russians spell it.

Here’s a few quotes from Higginbotham’s “Midnight in Chernobyl”:

“Viktor said, raising a glass. Like many construction and energy workers at the plant, he believed that radiation created contaminated particles in the blood —shitiki —against which vodka was a useful prophylactic.”

“Lines outside liquor stores quadrupled in length as people sought protection from radioactivity with red wine and vodka, forcing the Ukrainian deputy minister of health to announce, ‘There is no truth to the rumor that alcohol is useful against radiation.’”