The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, when reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded after a failed safety test, according to multiple media reports. The explosion released massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere, contaminating vast areas. The total death toll from the disaster is impossible to determine definitively, major media sources report.
Within months of the explosion, 30 workers died from the blast or acute radiation sickness, according to major media reports. About 600,000 people, known as 'liquidators', were sent to clean up the disaster, major media sources report. Thousands of others have since died from radiation-related illnesses such as cancer, according to major media reports.
Soviet authorities did not report the explosion for two days, only after fallout reached Europe and Swedish experts raised concerns, according to major media reports. The disaster exposed millions in the region to dangerous levels of radiation and forced permanent evacuation of hundreds of towns and villages in Ukraine and Belarus, major media sources report.
The city of Slavutych was built in late 1986 to house workers from the Chernobyl plant and their families, according to major media reports. A midnight commemoration was held in Slavutych on the 40th anniversary, major media sources report. Slavutych also endured a brief Russian occupation during the early days of the war, according to major media reports.
When the drone struck the arch, it felt like the world could return to 1986. We all — young and old alike — must protect our land, because it is so vulnerable.
Oleksandr Novikov was a nuclear engineering student in Moscow when the disaster occurred, according to major media reports. According to Ilta-Sanomat, Novikov described that two months after the accident, the Soviet government decided to involve nuclear engineering students in the aftermath cleanup. Novikov was sent to Chernobyl in June 1986 as a dosimetrist, or radiation measurer, major media reports state. According to Ilta-Sanomat, Novikov described the destroyed reactor as looking like a big, big black hole, like a gate to hell, and said even now his skin crawls. Novikov still works for the power plant company and is preparing a project to cover radioactive mass, according to major media reports.
Petro Hurin, 76, was sent to clean up Chernobyl in June 1986, according to major media reports. Hurin developed severe symptoms within four days and Soviet doctors refused to diagnose radiation sickness, major media sources report. Hurin told wire reporters that not a single Chernobyl person is in good health, describing it as death by a thousand cuts. He also said he understood that even if his contribution was small, he was doing his part to tame the atomic beast. Only 5 of Hurin's 40 colleagues are still alive today, according to Hurin himself. Hurin's grandson Andri Vorobkalov was killed in the Battle of Bakhmut three years ago, major media reports state.
Anatolii Prylipko first arrived nine days after the accident and drove a fire truck for a month, according to major media reports. According to The Independent - Main, Prylipko described that back then, the whole place was packed with machinery and helicopters, and the road to Kyiv was so crowded you couldn't pass anyone. Anatolii Krutik was deployed in summer 1986 to fence off contaminated territory and designate exclusion zones, major media reports state. According to The Independent - Main, Krutik said no one really thought about it; they didn't know what it was — this invisible enemy. Volodymyr Vechirko was sent to Chernobyl in summer 1986 to clear topsoil and clean buildings, according to major media reports. According to The Independent - Main, Vechirko described being back now as overwhelming, and said it's incredibly sad to compare what this place was to what it is now.
A Russian drone strike in 2025 damaged the New Safe Confinement structure at Chernobyl, according to major media reports. According to The Independent - Main, Liudmyla Liubyva, a resident of Slavutych, described that when the drone struck the arch, it felt like the world could return to 1986, and said all must protect their land because it is so vulnerable.
The exact number of liquidators who have died from radiation-related illnesses since 1986 remains unknown, as does the current health status of many survivors. The full extent of the damage from the 2025 drone strike on the New Safe Confinement structure is also not yet clear. The long-term health effects most common among Chernobyl liquidators continue to be studied.