Desolation of Chernobyl 30 years on: Haunting pictures show town devastated by 1986 nuclear disaster
Nature has been quick to reclaim the area's abandoned infrastructure, stray shoes and family photos still fixed to bedroom walls show the speed with which families were evacuated
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
On 26 April 1986, a testing accident at the Chernobyl power plant near the Ukranian town of Pripyat sent clouds of smouldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe.
More than 30 people died in the incident, many more subsequently due to radiation-related illnesses, and 50,000 people were forced to evacuate.
The total death toll and long-term health effects of the disaster remain a subject of intense debate.
In the middle of a vast exclusion zone in northern Ukraine, the world’s largest land-based moving structure has now been built to prevent radiation spewing from the disaster site for the next 100 years.
It is a more permanent solution to a concrete sarcophagus that was hastily built over the site of the stricken reactor to contain the worst of the radiation at the time.
But, even with the new structure, the surrounding zone – which is roughly the size of Luxembourg – will remain largely inhabitable and closed to unsanctioned visitors.
In a series of haunting photographs, news agency Reuters has captured the desolate essence of Chernobyl as it is today.
Nature has been quick to reclaim the area's abandoned infrastructure.
Trees sprout from the rusted roofs of apartment blocks in the ghost town of Pripyat, which was built to house Chernobyl power plant workers.
Stray shoes and family photos still fixed to bedroom walls show the speed with which families were evacuated.
On Wednesday, Ukrainians who were involved in the clean-up of Chernobyl - the so-called “liquidators” - protested in central Kiev to demand the Government acknowledge their sacrifice by providing them with improved social benefits.
One former liquidator Lidia Kerentseva said: “Thirty years ago, when we were young, we were saving the whole earth from a nuclear explosion. And now no one needs us. Absolutely no one.”
The upcoming 30th anniversary of the disaster is sure to shine a new light on the long-term human impact of the worst nuclear meltdown in history.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments