May 09, 2024

How War Has Affected Chernobyl Zone


How War Has Affected Chernobyl Zone
The entrance to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.  Clay Gilliland, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The delicate ecosystem of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has been been drastically harmed by Russian occupation. 

Much damage was done to the region in the first months of Russia's invasion, from February 24 to April 2, 2022, during Russia's offensive on Kyiv. Russian troops not only looted and destroyed parts of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant itself; their convoys likely tracked an unknown amount of radiation from the soil of the Exclusion Zone outside of the protected area. 

The occupation has had consequences for all aspects of life and work that were taking place within the Exclusion Zone: scientists can no longer safely access many areas of the Zone to collect data, and environmentalists, who have been working for decades to restore the nature of the area, report a substantial increase in pollution and deforestation where the Russian convoys were located. The Zone also used to host a bustling tourism industry, with 250,000 visitors in the five years before the war. Now much of the infrastructure for tourist centers has been destroyed. 

“The Russians plundered all the checkpoints, as well as the monitoring centers of the Exclusion Zone, laboratories, and everywhere else where there was some kind of equipment,” said Vladimir Verbitsky, a Zone engineer, in an interview with BBC Ukraine. Witnesses reported seeing Russian military personnel looting even in the most radioactive parts of the Zone. 

While this damage has set back the process of restoring the Zone to its state before the nuclear disaster in 1985, the population of the area remains dedicated to the idea of turning the Exclusion Zone into a "Renaissance Zone."

 

You Might Also Like

Chernobyl and the Soviet Legacy
  • June 30, 2019

Chernobyl and the Soviet Legacy

Chernobyl, the HBO miniseries, is many things: a disaster movie, a meditation on power, a warning against secrecy, a thriller – a race against time.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955