Pripyat

After the 1986 disaster, Soviet authorities sealed off Chornobyl and Prypiat from outside visitors. Organized tourism began in the early 21st century and peaked in 2019–2020, after HBO’s hit miniseries drew global attention to the site. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, all trips to the Zone have been banned. The danger now comes not only from radiation, but also from the aftermath of war. NV journalist Serhii Okunev spent several days at the Zone’s main sites, went beneath the sarcophagus at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and saw Prypiat — a city emptied of people.

Explosions shook the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located in northern Kyiv Oblast, during the night of April 26, 1986, triggering the worst man-made disaster in human history. Thirty-nine years have passed since then, but the exclusion zone around Chornobyl remains the starkest reminder of the catastrophe’s scale.