The tragedy that brought the collapse of the totalitarian regime closer
Introduction
April 26, 1986 is the day of the largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind. Then, during an experiment at the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, two explosions occurred. A cloud of radioactive dust erupted into the Earth's atmosphere. The wind carried dangerous radioactive isotopes to the northwest, which settled on the ground and penetrated the water. In terms of the number of victims of the accident, Ukraine ranks first among the former republics of the Soviet Union. Belarus suffered about 60% of harmful emissions. Russia was also severely affected by radiation pollution. A powerful cyclone carried radioactive substances through the territories of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Finland, Great Britain, and later - Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium.
It has been 40 years since the Chernobyl accident, but its consequences are still being discussed by the world scientific community. According to the definition of UNSCEAR and WHO, the Chernobyl disaster is classified as a nuclear facility accident of the highest level. Historians emphasize the political responsibility of the communist regime, which for the sake of ideological interests endangered the lives and health of millions of citizens. Due to the imperfection of the design, violation of construction technology, and the use of low-quality building materials, such a man-made disaster became inevitable. The criminal concealment of information by the authorities, on the one hand, deepened the irreparable negative consequences of the accident, and on the other hand, it caused the activation of the environmental and national-democratic movements, which ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
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Key points
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident led to public health and demographic problems, irreparable economic, social and humanitarian consequences. In terms of environmental consequences, the accident turned into a planetary catastrophe: 3/4 of Europe was contaminated with radioactive cesium.
At that time, the Soviet Union proclaimed transparency and openness. However, the emergency situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant proved the falsehood of the slogans. Realizing that an ecological disaster of such a scale would have negative consequences for the communist regime, the USSR leadership chose to silence it, and all information about the disaster immediately came under the ideological control of the CPSU and the KGB.
The Chernobyl tragedy demonstrated the unwillingness of the state leadership to subordinate political interests to the humanistic values of life and health of people. In order to demonstrate that there was no danger from radiation, the party leadership did not cancel the May Day demonstration. Hundreds of thousands of people, including schoolchildren, were brought to Khreshchatyk five days after the accident. The next day, all newspapers were full of grandiose reports. Meanwhile, they only managed to heed extremely cautious advice from the Minister of Health on safety measures on May 9!
The Ukrainian diaspora after the Chernobyl accident showed a high civic position and activity. It organized demonstrations, prepared appeals to the governments of Western countries, and collected materials about the tragedy. The foreign leadership of the Ukrainian Main Liberation Council in September 1986 made significant efforts to bring the Chernobyl issue to the UN for consideration.
The Chernobyl disaster was one of the catalysts for the collapse of the USSR. Moscow's attempts to hide the truth about its consequences, insufficient safety measures and assistance to the victims shook faith in the "humanity" of the communist idea even among its most loyal supporters. The Soviet government demonstrated a blatant irresponsibility for the fate of people.
In the post-accident period, environmental and national-democratic movements intensified, especially in Ukraine. On April 26, 1988, the first unauthorized demonstration took place in Kyiv under the slogans: “Away with nuclear power plants from Ukraine”, “Ukrainian Communist Party – for a nuclear-free Ukraine”, “We don’t want dead zones”, “Nuclear power plants – for a referendum”, “Industry, land, water – under environmental control”, “Everyone – a personal dosimeter”. In many regions, both in the east and in the west, people took to the streets to protest against the construction of new and the operation of old nuclear power plants. It was around the problem of the nuclear disaster that the first public organizations were formed that turned into a political force, for example, “Green World” and the “Chernobyl” Union.
The Chernobyl disaster in numbers and dates
In 1977, the first unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was launched.
The fourth power unit of the Chernobyl NPP operated for 2 years – it was launched at full capacity in 1984. It was the “youngest” and most modern reactor.
For 2 days the world knew nothing about the explosion.
30 nuclear power plant employees died from the explosion or acute radiation sickness within a few months of the accident.
500,000 people died from radiation, according to estimates by independent experts.
8.5 million residents of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia received significant doses of radiation in the days following the accident.
90,784 people were evacuated from the 81st settlement in Ukraine by the end of the summer of 1986.
More than 600,000 people became liquidators of the accident - fighting the fire and clearing the rubble.
2,293 Ukrainian cities and towns with a population of approximately 2.6 million people are contaminated with radioactive nuclides.
200 thousand square kilometers - this is the area affected by radiation. Of these, 52 thousand square kilometers are agricultural lands.
For 10 days – from April 26 to May 6 – the release of activity from the damaged reactor continued at the level of tens of millions of Curies per day, after which it decreased thousands of times. Experts call this period the active stage of the accident.
11 tons of nuclear fuel were released into the atmosphere as a result of the accident at Unit 4 of the Chernobyl NPP.
400 species of animals, birds and fish, and 1,200 species of flora continue to exist in the “exclusion zone”, where people are prohibited from living due to significant and catastrophic pollution of the air, soil and water.
From April 26 to October 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was out of operation. In October 1986, units 1 and 2 were put back into operation; in December 1987, unit 3 resumed operation. Unit 4 did not start.
1991 – a fire broke out at Unit 2, which resulted in the shutdown of this reactor.
December 1995 – a memorandum was signed between Ukraine and the G7 countries and the European Union Commission, according to which the preparation of a program for the complete closure of the station began.
December 15, 2000 – The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was completely shut down.
September 2010 – the foundation for a new sarcophagus was laid over the destroyed 4th power unit, in April 2012, construction of an arch that was to cover the “Shelter” began, in October 2011, construction of the Centralized Storage Facility for Spent Ionizing Radiation Sources began at the Vector complex site.
On November 29, 2016, the arch over Unit 4 was completed.
On February 14, 2025, a Russian attack drone of the Shahed (Geran-2) type damaged the shelter of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl NPP.
Historical background
What happened on the night of April 26, 1986?
On April 25, 1986, the fourth power unit at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was to be experimentally shut down to study the possibilities of using the inertia of the turbogenerator in the event of a power outage. Despite the fact that technical circumstances did not correspond to the test plan, the test was not canceled.
The experiment began on April 26 at 01:23. The situation got out of control. At 01:25, two explosions occurred with an interval of a few seconds. The reactor was completely destroyed. (Document 1). More than 30 fires broke out. The main ones were extinguished after an hour, and the fire was completely eliminated by 5 a.m. on April 26. However, later an intense fire broke out in the central hall of block 4, which was fought using helicopters until May 10.
At the time of the accident, 17 workers were in the building of Unit 4. Valery Khodemchuk, the senior operator of the reactor shop, died under the rubble. On the afternoon of April 26, repairman Volodymyr Shashenok died from radiation. 11 workers received doses of radiation. They all died of radiation sickness by May 20, 1986 in Moscow Hospital No. 6. Another 14 people from the station's personnel received doses that caused radiation sickness of the 3rd and 4th degrees.
The day after the accident, a government commission decided to immediately shut down units 1 and 2 and evacuate the population of Pripyat (the so-called 10-kilometer zone).
The KGB report states that as of 8:00 a.m. on April 28, the radiation level at Units 3 and 4 was 1,000–2,600 microroentgen per second, and in some parts of the city – 30–160. At this point on the document, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky made his now famous note – “What does this mean?” This eloquently indicates that even the highest officials were not fully aware of the danger.
The military personnel were immediately thrown into the liquidation work. The first to arrive at the scene of the disaster were several dozen soldiers and officers of the Civil Defense Regiment of the Kyiv Military District with radiation reconnaissance devices and an army equipment decontamination kit, a mobile detachment of chemical troops and a separate company of radiation and chemical reconnaissance. In general, the liquidation work was attended by military personnel of the chemical, aviation, engineering, border branches, medical units of the USSR Ministry of Defense, Civil Defense (CO) and the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the summer, reserve military personnel and volunteers were involved. According to incomplete data, 600 thousand people took part in the liquidation of the consequences. Many of them fell ill due to radiation.
Firefighters arrived “bare-handed”, without any protective equipment, such as special insulating gas masks, which caused radioactive substances to enter the respiratory tract. It was the firefighters who stopped another potential disaster – a hydrogen explosion. The total activity of radioisotopes released into the air after the Chernobyl accident was 30–40 times greater than in Hiroshima. Almost 8.5 million people were irradiated.
When did the evacuation begin?
The first official local report about the accident at the Chernobyl NPP appeared only 36 hours later - at noon on April 27, the Pripyat radio announced the "temporary evacuation" of the residents of Pripyat - the city closest to the Chernobyl NPP with a population of about 50 thousand.
The city was divided into 5 sectors. In each, responsible persons were appointed. Staff members went around the apartments. They recommended closing windows, balconies, turning off electrical appliances, turning off water and gas, and taking personal belongings, valuables, documents, and food with them for the first time. Other things, such as dishes and children's toys, as well as pets, were not allowed to be taken out. From the memoirs of Lyudmila Kharitonova: “It was tragic to say goodbye to pets: cats, dogs. The kitties, with their tails outstretched, looked into people's eyes, meowed, the dogs howled, breaking through to the buses. But it was strictly forbidden to take the animals. Their fur was very radioactive.”.
To reduce the amount of luggage and not cause a stir, people were told that they would be able to return home in three days. At 1:50 p.m., residents gathered at the entrances of their houses, and from 2 p.m., buses began to arrive. At 4:30 p.m., the evacuation of the population from the city was completed. 44,500 people were evacuated. 5,000 remained in Pripyat, who were involved in emergency work.
On the evening of May 1, the wind from Chernobyl turned to Kyiv. The radiation background in the capital began to rise rapidly. Nevertheless, the parade took place. On May 2, the Soviet leadership decided to evacuate the population from the 30-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - on the 6th day after the accident.
By May 6, more than 115,000 people had been evacuated from the 30-kilometer zone. This area suffered the most from radiation. Later, it was called the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which included the north of the Polesie and Ivankiv districts of the Kyiv region (where the power plant, the cities of Chernobyl and Pripyat are located), as well as part of the Zhytomyr region up to the border with Belarus. Hundreds of small villages that were in the center of the contamination were razed to the ground by bulldozers.
Most people were evicted to neighboring districts of the Kyiv region. At the end of 1986, the construction of the youngest city of Ukraine, Slavutych, began for the Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers and their families. The construction was completed in record time – the first residents settled in 1987–1988.
When did the first information message appear?
The information policy in the first weeks after the disaster sowed distrust in the authorities. It, along with the central and republican press, and television, remained silent about the accident until it began to be talked about abroad and it became clear that it was impossible to hide the accident.
So, the first official announcement in the USSR under pressure from the international community was made only on April 28. Then, at 9:00 p.m., the main television news program “Vremya” laconically reported: “An accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. One of the nuclear reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Assistance is being provided to the victims. A government commission has been created.” It was difficult to understand the true scale of the tragedy from this announcement.
The first reports of the Ukrainian media were also extremely stingy with details. For example, on April 29, 1986, the newspaper “Pravda Ukrainy” published a message from the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the third column: “An accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. One of the nuclear reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Assistance is being provided to the victims. A government commission has been created.”.
And the next day, the newspapers published somewhat more extensive, but no more informative reports (Document 2). The first advice on self-protection of people from radiation exposure appeared in Pravda Ukrainy on May 9. The article “Recommended Safety Measures” rewrote a radio interview with the then Minister of Health, Anatoly Romanenko, in which it was stated: “Our main enemy is dust, as a possible carrier of radioactive substances… In recent days, there have been fewer children playing on the streets and in yards. And this is right. Although there is practically no direct danger of radiation today, let us protect them first and foremost from dust.”.
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev addressed the Chernobyl accident on May 14! The next day, Mikhail Gorbachev's statement was also reprinted by Ukrainian publications (Document 3).
What was the KGB hiding?
The construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began in May 1970. From the beginning of construction work in the city of power engineers Pripyat, a city department of the KGB Directorate of the Ukrainian SSR for the city of Kyiv and Kyiv region was established. The emergence of a structural unit of the Soviet special services was due to the strategic status of the new building. The facility was immediately placed under special control of the Soviet leadership.
| For your information: the first accidents at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred in 1978–1979, immediately after the launch of the first power unit. There were also radiation leaks in 1982, 1983, and 1984. The archives of the State Security Committee (KGB) contain documents about the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, its launch in the late 1970s, the accident, and the elimination of its consequences. The documents prove that from the very beginning of the construction of this nuclear power plant, there were numerous violations and thefts, construction and installation work was performed poorly, and technological discipline was violated. All of this ultimately led to the accident. “In some areas of the second unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, facts of deviation from projects and violations of construction and installation technology were recorded, which could lead to accidents and incidents,” according to a KGB report dated January 17, 1979. From 1983 to 1985 alone, the plant experienced five accidents and 63 equipment failures. The last such incident before the major accident occurred in February 1986. |
Information about the man-made disaster caused by the explosion and subsequent destruction of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl NPP was immediately classified as secret by the party and state leadership of the USSR and the Soviet special services. Of course, the structure most familiar with the situation at the Chernobyl NPP was the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR. At the time of the accident, it was headed by Stepan Mukha, and later by Mykola Galushko. As evidenced by archival documents, the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR immediately began to develop and implement a set of special measures to classify information about the accident at a regime facility. This was fully consistent with the totalitarian regime.
One of the first messages from the KGB Directorate for Kyiv and Kyiv Region, sent to the KGB of the USSR on April 26, 1986, stated: “In order to prevent information leaks and the spread of false and panic rumors, control of outgoing correspondence has been organized, and subscribers' access to international communication lines has been limited.”.
In the first days after the accident, the leadership of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, neglecting the need to inform the population about the environmental consequences of the nuclear disaster, was more concerned with “verifying the version of a possible sabotage intention,” involving 67 agents and 56 trusted persons in operational measures. Many Soviet people first heard about the extraordinary event from “hostile voices” from London, Washington, and Munich.
| For your information: On April 27, at 11:00 p.m., the Danish Nuclear Research Laboratory recorded an MPA (Maximum Design Basis Accident) accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. At the same time, a sharp increase in the radiation background was also registered in Sweden. The next day, the Swedish authorities had data on the source of the contamination and turned to Moscow with a demand to provide an explanation. |
On April 29, the head of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR for the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region issued an order “on strengthening the work of city and district bodies in the districts of the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region at enterprises and institutions to stop, together with party and Soviet bodies, the spread of provocative and panic rumors…” Thus, in late April-May 1986, operatives of the district departments of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR were looking for “talkers” and “panicers” – individuals who collected information and spread “gossip” about the events at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Document 4).
The USSR government understood that the population still had to be informed, but it had all the tools to do it manipulatively, in the spirit of a totalitarian state. Thus, they began to tell people about the event in a measured manner with the Government Commission's report, which was approved at the first meeting of the operational group of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU on April 29. At its meetings, the texts of government announcements for the Soviet press and the governments of foreign countries were regularly reviewed and approved.
To conceal the scale of the tragedy, the authorities forced the Ministry of Health of the Ukrainian SSR to falsify diagnoses of radiation injuries. From an excerpt from a report by the special services for May 11, 1986: “According to the Shevchenko Regional Directorate of the KGB, the administration of the Kyiv region and 25 hospitals, based on the instructions of the Ministry of Health of the Ukrainian SSR (allegedly Order No. 24c dated May 11, 1986), indicate the diagnosis of “vegetative-vascular dystonia” in the medical histories of patients with signs of “radiation sickness.”.
On June 30 of the same year, the KGB of the USSR, by a special document on the protection (read, classification) of information about the accident at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl NPP, put into effect a list of information that people were not allowed to know. This included, in particular, the true causes of the accident, the nature of the destruction and the extent of damage to the equipment and systems of the power unit and the NPP, the radiation situation, the actual state of the reactor core, the degree of impact on people at the NPP, along with information about the nature of their activities and the features of the accident, the exposure of the station personnel, repair personnel of the organizations involved, and the population, and so on.
Independent Ukraine knew the “secret” stamp on all Chernobyl documents.
Later, party nomenklatura members would explain the concealment of the truth about the accident with the good intention of preventing panic, and even declare that all the measures they took were timely and appropriate (Document 5). However, in those days, it was not panic that killed, but radiation. Falsification of the scale of the accident, ignorance of how to behave, on the contrary, created the prerequisites for mass panic in the capital of Ukraine. In early May, Kyiv residents rushed to save their families. Huge queues formed at train stations and airports near ticket offices, mainly of women with children. Panic in Kyiv became most pronounced on May 4-5, 1986.
The Soviet government refused international assistance altogether. However, in 1987 it turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for an expert assessment of the steps taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident.
Moscow or Kyiv: whose responsibility?
The Chernobyl NPP was subordinate to Moscow. So the central leadership effectively removed the republican leadership from active participation in overcoming the emergency situation. All decisions were made in Moscow or agreed with it.
Thus, in the afternoon of April 26, a commission of the USSR Council of Ministers was created, headed by Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Boris Shcherbina, and it began to meet directly in the disaster zone. The commission was to assess the scale of the accident and determine the priority steps for its liquidation. The representative of Ukraine in its work was Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the republic Mykola Nikolayev.
On April 29, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee formed an Operational Group in Moscow to coordinate efforts to minimize the accident. It was headed by the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Nikolai Ryzhkov. From April 1986 to January 1988, the group held 40 meetings.
In Ukraine, the Task Force was created on April 30, 1986 (headed by Yevgeny Kachalovsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR). The group was to inform the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR every morning by 10:00 a.m. about the situation at the Chernobyl NPP and the progress of the liquidation of the consequences of the accident. On May 3, the Task Force of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (headed by Oleksandr Lyashko, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR) began operating. The documents of the Politburo Task Force indicate that the Kremlin removed the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR from active participation in overcoming the emergency situation directly at the Chernobyl NPP (Document 6). The Secretary of the Politburo Operational Group, Borys Kachura, spoke about it this way: “Practically, our government, our Central Committee… could no longer develop any strategy or make any decisions specifically on the localization of the accident itself, because all these issues were already in the hands of the government commission, only it dealt with these matters. We, in turn, dealt with all issues related to the evacuation of the population, their accommodation, and provision… And, in addition, we ensured the implementation of all those government resolutions that the commission adopted. That is, we implemented everything, but we were not… the initiators of these issues. Well, everything that was outside the station itself was under our jurisdiction. And we dealt with it” (the project “The Collapse of the Soviet Union. Oral History of Independent Ukraine 1999–1991” – http://oralhistory.org.ua/interview-ua/360/).
At the same time, the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR, even having information about a real threat to people's lives and health, unquestioningly carried out Moscow's incompetent instructions. On February 11, 1992, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, based on the results of the investigation by the temporary deputy commission of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR, opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 165 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position). Senior officials - member of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine, Head of the Operational Group of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine for the Elimination of the Consequences of the Accident Oleksandr Lyashko, Chairman of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada Valentyna Shevchenko, Minister of Health of the Ukrainian SSR Anatoly Romanenko - are accused of falsifying the real level of ionizing radiation in the accident zone at the Chernobyl NPP, which led to mass overexposure of the station's personnel, accident liquidators, and residents of the radiation-affected zone.
The investigation concluded that they were guilty, but due to Shcherbytsky's death and the expiration of the term for bringing them to criminal responsibility, the case was closed.
How did the diaspora react?
The Ukrainian diaspora immediately linked the events at the Chernobyl NPP to the colonial, disenfranchised status of Ukraine. The head of the Central Committee of Ukrainian Organizations in France, Yaroslav Musianovych, and a member of the foreign mission of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, Leonid Plyushch, made a statement on May 2, 1986 (Document 7).
Ukrainians in the United States gathered on April 30, 1986, for anti-Soviet demonstrations in front of the USSR Mission to the UN in New York and the UN Secretariat. Memorial services for the victims of the nuclear disaster were held in churches in New York, Chicago, and other American cities.
In the United States and Canada, Ukrainians created a number of public organizations to draw the attention of the free world to the Chernobyl accident. They held demonstrations, prepared appeals to Western governments, and collected materials about the Chernobyl accident. In September 1986, the foreign leadership of the Ukrainian Main Liberation Council made significant efforts to bring the Chernobyl issue to the attention of the UN. The KGB officers informed the party bosses: “Attempts are being made to impose on the world community the idea that the USSR is supposedly pursuing a «policy of genocide against the Ukrainian people». To this end, the functionaries of the UGVR, in contact with the US special services, are conducting interviews with Soviet citizens arriving in the United States through various channels, as well as foreigners who have visited Ukraine. After appropriate “processing”, the OUN members intend to use the aforementioned materials for anti-Soviet processing of representatives of foreign delegations participating in the work of the UN General Session.”.
In April 1987, the United States marked the first anniversary of the Chernobyl accident: “According to operational data received by the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, the so-called “World Congress of Free Ukrainians” (WCFU) declared a “week of the Chernobyl tragedy” starting on April 26 of this year,“ we read in the KGB report of April 10, 1987. ”During this period, anti-Soviet rallies, services, and memorial services are planned in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, and Chicago ”in memory of the victims of Chernobyl.” On May 1, a procession to the UN building with candles and mourning ribbons is planned in New York.”.
At the same time, the KGB in Kyiv disrupted the planned events of the Chernobyl survivors. Residents of the housing estates of Troyeshchyna and Kharkivske Shosse, evacuated from the 30-kilometer zone, planned to gather in the city center on April 26, 1987, and express their dissatisfaction with the meager amounts of compensation for material losses, the lack of permanent registration in the capital, and the false diagnoses they were given in hospitals. This action could have had a significant resonance, so the KGB did everything to prevent it.
How did Chernobyl influence the collapse of the USSR?
The Chernobyl disaster was one of the catalysts for the collapse of the USSR. The accident was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The authorities' cover-up of the disaster and its consequences, the lack of information about safety measures, and the lack of assistance to the victims shook the faith in the values of the communist idea even among its most loyal supporters (Document 8).
In addition, Moscow's attempts to hide the truth about the disaster and its consequences strengthened the opposition national-democratic movement in Ukraine, whose participants were joined by environmentalists - activists fighting against environmental pollution.
In many regions of Ukraine, people began to take to the streets to protest against the construction of new and the operation of old nuclear power plants, and corresponding publications in the press.
The first public organizations were formed around the Chernobyl accident. Soon, two organizations such as “Green World” and the “Chernobyl” Union turned into a political force.
Protests against the construction of new and the operation of old nuclear power plants swept across the regions of Ukraine. Thousands of people took part in them. Despite the KGB's opposition, on April 26, 1988, the first unauthorized demonstration took place in Kyiv under the slogans “Away with nuclear power plants from Ukraine”, “Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant – for a nuclear-free Ukraine”, “We don’t want dead zones”, “Nuclear power plants – for a referendum”, “Industry, land, water – under environmental control”, “Everyone – a personal dosimeter”. And soon the empire built on lies collapsed.
Chernobyl also finally undermined the economic foundations of the Soviet Union.
Chernobyl in 2022
The Russian aggressor used the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the post-disaster protection facility to carry out aggression and a full-scale invasion in 2022. On February 24, 2022, units of the invaders advancing from the Republic of Belarus entered the exclusion zone, seized the facilities of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and took the station's personnel hostage.
On the night of February 25, a mechanized enemy column advanced from Chernobyl in the direction of Ivankov – up to 300 units of equipment in the direction of Fenevichi, Katyuzhanka, Dymer (Vyshgorod direction). The equipment of the enemy military transport columns had no identification marks, but they included white cars (probably disguised as OSCE) and civilian cars, most likely with landing troops or DRG.
In March 2022, the enemy was accumulating forces in the area of the Chernobyl NPP, the Shelter facility, and the exclusion zone in general.
This had extremely dangerous consequences, in particular, it led to an increased threat of radiation contamination of the area, created the prerequisites for an emergency situation at particularly dangerous facilities, etc.
The illiterate actions of Russian commanders, who decided to deploy the personnel of three BTGs in the so-called Red Forest (an area with a particularly high level of radiation contamination in the area of the Chernobyl NPP), caused mass exposure of the personnel of these units.
On March 31, 2022, Russian troops completely withdrew from the territory of the Chernobyl NPP.
The occupiers forced the station employees to sign “official” documents, allegedly stating that the Russian Federation had been “guarding” the facility since February 24, 2022.
During the withdrawal, the Russian military managed to rob the premises, stealing equipment and other valuables.
While leaving the station, the occupiers captured and deported to the Russian Federation the civilian employees of the Chernobyl NPP and the National Guardsmen who were guarding it. Not all of them have returned home yet.
More information - at the link: https://uinp.gov.ua/informaciyni-materialy/zhurnalistam/informaciyni-materialy-do-rokovyn-avariyi-na-chornobylskiy-aes