Ukrainians came together on Saturday to pay tribute to those affected by the Chernobyl disaster, the most significant nuclear accident in history. The ceremony took place in Prypyat, a town once bustling but now abandoned, which was home to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The event commemorated the 39th anniversary of the 1986 catastrophe, with attendees including plant employees, survivors, their families, and government officials.
Participants laid flowers at a monument dedicated to the “liquidators,” the civil and military personnel who managed the disaster’s aftermath, and observed a moment of silence. The ceremony also recognized the efforts of those who responded to the Russian UAV strike on February 14, 2025, which impacted the new safe confinement structure.
The Kyiv Regional State Administration reflected on the period when Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl zone during the early phase of the full-scale invasion. Although Ukrainian forces reclaimed the area in the spring of 2022, nuclear risks persist. Russian troops held the exclusion zone around the plant for over five weeks, potentially exposing themselves to radiation.
During the event, Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Svitlana Grinchuk, extended her gratitude to those who remained at the plant during the Russian invasion. She acknowledged their bravery in ensuring the plant’s safety operations, which were critical for radiation protection across Ukraine and Europe.
Official records indicate that 31 people lost their lives due to immediate radiation exposure following the 1986 incident, affecting approximately 8.4 million individuals across Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The full extent of the disaster’s consequences remains uncertain, with a radioactive cloud having spread across much of the globe. The area within a 30-kilometer radius of the Chernobyl plant continues to be an exclusion zone.
