Chernobyl 40th Anniversary Marked by Survivor Reflections, Ukraine Conflict Near Nuclear Sites

Survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster marked its 40th anniversary with reflections on the explosion that upended their lives, as war in Ukraine raises new risks at atomic sites. Olena Maruzhenko, whose mother sobbed when Soviet police ordered them to evacuate their home in Korogod, northern Ukraine, described the date of April 26, 1986, as forever etched in her memory with black sadness.

The Independent reported that local authorities told Maruzhenko and her mother they would only need to leave for three days, leading her to believe they would definitely return.

War rages in Ukraine with Russian forces operating around Chernobyl and the southern Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Maruzhenko, recalling her evacuation, said she feels especially acute anxiety when war touches nuclear facilities, adding that it causes fear and incomprehension about why humanity is taking such risks again after the Chernobyl experience.

Natalia Dykun, who was 28 at the time of the explosion, stated she fears for future generations, describing the irresponsibility and risks of a repeat disaster as very frightening and a source of constant stress for children and grandchildren.

After a test went catastrophically wrong. Located around 100 km north of Kyiv, the plant released a massive and uncontainable spread of radioactive material across Europe in the following days. Korogod village, just 12 km from the plant, became a grey and decrepit ghost town within the 30 km Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, restricted to human habitation.

Pripyat, an industrial city built to house plant workers, stands as the most famous evacuated site, with its abandoned fairground serving as an enduring symbol of lost lives and communities. Hundreds of buses ferried workers from Pripyat during the evacuations.

In total, 350,000 people were removed from the exclusion zone, while thousands of animals were slaughtered as residents left nearby towns.

Thousands of people have suffered devastating health consequences from high radiation exposure in the 40 years since, including thyroid cancer. Dykun's husband was diagnosed with cancer after the disaster and died from the disease. She said they became hostages of the Chernobyl disaster, noting that in almost every house near them, someone fell ill and families lost relatives to cancer.

Vital soil for agriculture remained polluted for decades, transforming lush forests, rivers, and lakes around Korogod—sources of mushrooms, berries, fish, and herbs sold in local markets—into contaminated wastelands. The official Soviet death toll, given in 1987, was 31.

Olga Mikhalova, who was 15 when she learned she would never return home, said the accident and evacuation changed them forever, breaking family and neighborly ties, and called it a tragedy for many generations she would not wish on anyone.

Most residents from towns near Chernobyl only grasped the disaster's scale when new towns were constructed to house them. Dykun said she was devastated to see a new village built in an open field with no forest or water nearby, contrasting her nature-surrounded home. Maruzhenko, living with strangers after the tragedy, watched the news in tears upon learning of the new homes being built.

Slavutych, a planned city on the western bank of the Dnieper River, was built for those evacuated from Pripyat and now houses around 20,000 people. Mikhalova recalled that realizing they would not return was very difficult, especially for the older generation. Dykun added that silence from Soviet authorities caused great harm, leaving residents completely unprotected morally and physically.

““We believed we would definitely return,” Olena Maruzhenko recalled to The Independent.”

““This irresponsibility of the enemy and the risks for the surrounding world of a repeat of the disaster are very frightening and we are in constant stress and fear,” Natalia Dykun said.”

““The accident and evacuation changed us forever. Family ties were broken, neighbourly ties. We would not wish this on anyone,” Olga Mikhalova stated.”