Today marks 40 years since the Chornobyl disaster. In this thread,...
Kristina Berdynskykh@berdynskykh_k
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Apr 26, 2026
~2 min read
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Today marks 40 years since the Chornobyl disaster. In this thread, I’d like to remind everyone of it
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1/ The city of Prypiat was founded in 1970. Employees of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located 3 kilometers away, lived there with their families. At the time of the accident on April 26, 1986, 49,000 people lived in the city. The average age of the population was 26
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2/ The city existed for only 16 years and 82 days
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3/ On April 26, 1986, a disaster occurred. The explosion destroyed Power Unit 4 and damaged the nuclear reactor. This equipment is contaminated with radiation
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4/ On April 27, 1986, an evacuation order was issued for the population of Pripyat (translation of the original announcement)
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5/ Since the accident, no one has lived in Pripyat, and this is what the town looks like today. In spring, nature swallows it up
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6/ And this is the city center, which had a restaurant, a cultural and sports center, and a hotel
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7/ The amusement park with a Ferris wheel and children’s swings was scheduled to open in May 1986 but never did
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8/ Soviet propaganda claimed the situation was under control and accused the West of spreading misinformation about the accident. From 6 to 9 May 1986, a cycle race was held in Kyiv, two hours from Chernobyl
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9/ On November 25, 2025,a group of women arrived in Prypiat to participate in the photo project.Among them was Halyna Kharchenko.She had lived in Prypiat since 1970.Halyna worked in the plant’s chemical analysis laboratory and,after the 1986 accident, developed radiation sickness
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10/Her husband, also a Chornobyl worker, died of a heart attack at 51. Her son and grandson are now defending Ukraine on the front line. In Prypiat, she was never able to enter the apartment where she once lived. It was too painful for her
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11/Halyna’s close friend, 73-year-old Natalia Khodymchuk, was also supposed to travel to Pripyat with her on November 25, 2025. She was the wife of the first victim of the accident, Valerii Khodymchuk, an operator of Unit 4. His body was never found.
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12/On the night of November 14-15, 2025, a Russian drone struck Natalia’s apartment in Kyiv. She suffered burns to 45% of her body and died in the hospital on November 15, 2025
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13/Russian soldiers occupied the Chernobyl power station on the first day of the full-scale invasion – 24.02.2022. The occupation lasted 36 days, until 31.03.2022. On 14 February 2025, a Russian drone struck the roof of the protective confinement
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14/Here is my report from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone,published in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio ilfoglio.it/esteri/2026/04…
