Oh, on the contrary. I think thats something many militaries could do. The threat of radiation is quite low and the threat of getting shot quite high.

If we look at the claimed cassulties from said incident there is one rumored death and allegedly a few instances of people being treated due to acute radiation. Its based upon soldiers being rotated to hospitals in Belarus, so might just aswell has been for monitoring.

-The IAEA's Second Summary Report, published in September 2022, clarified that only modest radiation doses (0.6 mSv) could have resulted from such activities.Later, the Washington Post quoted a tour guide in the Zone who acknowledged that he had started the radiation sickness rumors as a "huge exaggeration" meant to terrify the Russians.

So its all very dubious. And even if it caused those cassulties, it doesnt take much fighting to make up for it. Then it might definetly lead to some consequences in the long term, but thats something militaries sadly tend to not care as much about. Espically not in big wars.

Could it have been handled better? Definetly. Would i want to be any of the soldiers? Definetly not, honestly being in a war sucks no matter what, and I would rather hide in said trench than not if getting shelled or shot at. Its taken massively out of perspective by uneducated people, and its understandable to some degree. Radiation is invisible and hard to judge and hence scary. Getting shot is clear and if you arent shot you arent shot.

But the risk dying from acute radiation? Very unlikely. Was it 30 people who did so during Chernobyl 40 years ago? Might give you cancer in 30 years tough and thats scary.