CHORNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE — Ukraine has accused Russia of firing drones into the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and damaging the New Safe Confinement, the steel shelter built to contain radioactive material from the destroyed Unit 4 reactor. Russian drones and missiles launched from Belarus regularly pass over the restricted zone surrounding the former nuclear power plant.

The exclusion zone, a restricted area roughly 30 km in diameter and comparable in size to Luxembourg, was established following widespread evacuations after the 1986 nuclear accident to contain the spread of radioactive contamination. Land surrounding the zone contains pockets of intense radioactive contamination.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and Russian forces briefly occupied the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and the surrounding area in early 2022. During the occupation, soldiers dug trenches in contaminated soil before Russian forces retreated from the zone at the end of March 2022. Since then, large swaths of the zone have become militarised.

On a dilapidated bridge over a tributary of the Pripyat River, two Ukrainian soldiers are stationed with anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks, scanning the sky. Forty years after the disaster, communities of scientists, elderly returnees, and soldiers live among abandoned buildings in the zone, while wildlife thrives in the surrounding forests.

The damaged Unit 4 reactor remains enclosed beneath the New Safe Confinement. On April 26, 1986, engineers and operators at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant were conducting a late-night safety test on Unit 4 that simulated a power outage to test whether a turbine could supply electricity until backup generators activated. Flaws in the reactor's design and operator errors caused a power surge that destroyed the reactor and released radioactive debris into the atmosphere.

For two days after the explosion, Soviet authorities restricted information about the fallout. On April 28, 1986, elevated radiation levels were detected by monitoring equipment at a nuclear facility in Stockholm, Sweden, about 1,200 km away from Chornobyl. Officials acknowledged a serious nuclear accident at the plant that same day. Pripyat, located about 3 km from the plant, was among the areas evacuated. After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Ukraine gained independence, took control of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, and has kept it sealed off from public access.