As Ukrainians mark the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the country continues to grapple with the legacy of the 1986 catastrophe amid ongoing wartime threats. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “nuclear terrorism” during commemorative events in Kyiv, highlighting that Russian drones regularly fly over the Chernobyl site and that one struck its protective shell the previous year. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Rafael Grossi joined the observance, stating that repairs to the damaged Latest Safe Confinement structure should commence as soon as possible, noting that leaving the situation unresolved poses significant risks. Greenpeace warned that any repairs could take up to four years and are currently unfeasible due to Russia’s invasion. The vigil in Slavutych, held each year despite wartime curfews, saw residents place candles on a radiation symbol laid out in the central square to honor the firefighters and workers who died in the disaster. About 600,000 liquidators were deployed after the explosion, with 30 dying within months from acute radiation sickness or trauma. The accident forced the permanent evacuation of hundreds of towns and villages across Ukraine and Belarus. The April 26, 1986 explosion released dangerous radiation across Europe and was initially concealed by Soviet authorities for two days, only after Swedish experts raised alarms about elevated radiation levels.
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