Since the mid-90s of the last century, the exclusion zone has attracted tourists and so-called stalkers who illegally enter the contaminated territory. The first of them began to visit the zone after the creation of the information, international cooperation and development agency “Chernobylinterinform” (existed from 1995 to 2013), which was also involved in organizing tours to the exclusion zone. Officially, visiting it was allowed for everyone from December 2010 to June 2011, then the rules were tightened. At the moment, tourists must be at least 18 years old. According to the Chernobyl Tour company, a three-day individual trip around the territory will cost $249. The founder of the company, Chernobyl radiation intelligence officer Sergei Mirny, told RT about tourism in the exclusion zone.
“Tours to Chernobyl are extremely popular. Last year, 15.5 thousand tourists visited the Chernobyl zone. This direction of tourism, despite the current situation in Ukraine, experienced only a short-term decline. We represent the destination at the largest tourism fairs in the world, in particular at the recent ones in Berlin and London, and we plan to continue this activity in the future. The flow of foreign tourists is increasing. The geography of tourists includes more than 60 countries, countries from New Zealand and Australia to Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Pakistan, India, South Africa and China are represented, not to mention Europeans, residents of the USA and Canada,” Mirny noted.
Those visiting the zone are not afraid even of mutated living creatures.
Dmitry Malin, coordinator of the go2chernobyl.com project and organizer of visits to this territory, shared details of preparations for trips to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
“Who’s going there? Different groups of categories of citizens - persons from 18 to 21 years old, these are people who at one time played computer games of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, where the location was the Chernobyl exclusion zone. People also go there to conduct certain activities, including scientific research, journalists and documentarians go there to make films, people who directly lived in those places before the accident go there. We also organize trips there for all these groups of citizens. Today, according to Ukrainian legislation, a person can stay in the exclusion zone for informational or research purposes for no more than five days,” he informed.
Reason for inspiration
The zone often appears in works of art and literature: films (“Disintegration”, “Forbidden Zone”) and TV series (“Chernobyl: Exclusion Zone”, “Moths”) have been made, a series of computer games S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has been created, and a series of books based on it have been published.
Screenshots: game seriesS.T.A.L.K.E.R.
For security reasons, almost no films are shot directly in the zone, but there are exceptions to this unspoken rule. In particular, during the filming of the Russian series “Chernobyl: Exclusion Zone”, some scenes that did not involve the participation of actors were filmed in Pripyat.
A place to live
Officially, the territory of the exclusion zone is inhabited by personnel involved in maintaining the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a safe condition, as well as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine guarding scientists and technicians. However, the list of inhabitants of the zone does not end with them. The so-called self-settlers returned to their homes after eliminating the consequences of the accident, some even purposefully occupied abandoned land.
Wedding Venue
The exclusion zone can also serve as a place for rather unexpected ceremonies. American Philip Grossman married his fiancee during a trip to Chernobyl.
Grossman has been interested in the history of the disaster for a long time and even made a documentary about this zone.
Non-zero danger
At the moment, the risk of radiation contamination spreading remains low. Work is underway to build a new sarcophagus for the fourth power unit, where the accident occurred. It should replace the current one, called “Shelter”. Initially, Ukrainian authorities planned to complete the project in 2015, but construction has not yet been completed.
Before the Chernobyl accident, Pripyat was a developing young city (the average age of residents was 26 years), with a population of about 50 thousand people. Now it is a ghost town, located in the most contaminated 10 km zone, the so-called regime sector - this is the territory of burial grounds, this is where they hastily buried what was thrown out of the reactor.Now this zone is contaminated with transuranic isotopes and is considered dead forever. People don’t live in Pripyat; only twice a year special buses bring former residents here to visit the graves of their relatives. Life can return to these territories only after several thousand years - the decay period of plutonium is more than 2.5 thousand years.
Today's Pripyat is a terrifying sight. It looks like a huge architectural cemetery hidden in the thickets of a dense forest. But, oddly enough, there are many who want to plunge into the atmosphere of a dead city and see with their own eyes what life after people can be like. Excursions to Pripyat are very popular. Although this is a rather dangerous and extreme type of tourism, because the level of radioactive dust, which is firmly ingrained into the soil, trees, and houses, is still off the scale here.
In addition, under the influence of the environment, most buildings collapse and are in disrepair. There are only a few facilities in the city - a special laundry, special equipment, deferrization and fluoridation of water, and a checkpoint at the entrance to Pripyat.
Revival of life
A little further from the nuclear power plant, in a 30 km zone, life begins to glimmer. In Chernobyl, located 18 km from the source of radiation, live workers of some enterprises working on a rotational basis, and already more than 500 self-settlers - people who, despite existing legal restrictions, still risked returning to their homes after the mass resettlement of 1986.Every year the number of self-settlers is growing. Some use their homes as summer cottages, others come to stay forever. Over the years, a unique natural reserve with rich flora and fauna has formed here. People farm, fish and eat vegetables, mushrooms and berries grown here without fear.
In the center of Chernobyl, you can occasionally even hear the sounds of repairs; windows are being installed in some five-story buildings. The only place in Chernobyl that lives and drowns is the Elias Church. The family of a local clergyman is one of those who returned to their native land.
In recent years, the life of people living in the exclusion zone has improved somewhat: the state began to pay them benefits, restored lost documents, and organized the delivery of necessary products. Samoselians do not deny the obvious environmental and radiation problems, so they are treated with galangal tincture, believing that this herb has healing properties and helps remove harmful substances from the body.
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Do people live in Pripyat now? Before answering this question, let's go back in time for a moment.
Back in 1970, construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began, and already in 1973 the first pebble was laid - the initial foundation of the future. This city was the dream of many residents of the USSR; people came to it from different parts of the state; representatives of more than 25 nationalities and nationalities lived here.
Abandoned house of Pripyat residents
Pripyat was a young city, a piece of paradise among the dense forest around, where everything was for a happy and carefree life. Lots of people moved here. The city was slowly starting to get upset. Every year the population growth in Pripyat was about one and a half thousand people (on average).
According to the latest census, in 1985 the population of Pripyat was 47.5 thousand people. Residents of Pripyat were located on a living area equivalent to 658.7 sq.m. On this territory there were 160 ordinary houses, 8 dormitories for family living and 18 for those who had not yet started a family. Some lived in hotel-type houses, but mostly these were people who had recently moved to the city and had not yet acquired an apartment.
Initially, the city was built with the expectation that the population of Pripyat would be no more than 80 thousand people. But the number of residents increased every year and the government decided to expand this framework. In addition, there was enough space around, because the city was located in the forest. Already in 1986, the population of Pripyat increased by almost 2 thousand and amounted to 49,400 people.
The bulk of the residents were young, promising people (average age - 26 years) who came to the city for a better life.
There really was work in Pripyat. In addition to the fact that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was constantly in need of workers, it was located not far from Pripyat; many workers were also needed there.
Hotel "Polesie" in Pripyat
In addition, the city grew exponentially, shops, a cinema, a community center were opened, preschools and schools for young children, as well as vocational technical schools for teenagers were built. In general, there was enough work in this city.
The city showed great promise, so young people quickly moved here in search of a better life. People met, got married, had children and made plans for the future.
Everything changed in one second after an announcement was made over loudspeakers throughout the city in April 1986. A voice from the speaker announced that all residents of Pripyat would be evacuated for three days due to high levels of radiation, and all dreams were dispelled: three days dragged on for decades. Or centuries.
Cinema "Prometheus" in Pripyat
Evacuation of Pripyat residents: how it happened
For 38 hours, the residents of Pripyat did not know what had happened. The day started as usual. The children went to school, the younger ones played in the yard. Those who had jobs went to work. The unemployed and housewives stayed at home. They worked in the garden, went to the markets for food before the May holidays, and lived a normal life. But soon panic began. A rumor has leaked that the 4th power unit at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has exploded and radioactive radiation is emanating from there.
After that, some grabbed their children and things, got into their cars and left the city. Others ran to higher ground to look at the fire, while others remained waiting for news. But closer to lunch, when everyone heard the announcement booming throughout the city, real chaos began.
The bulk of people collected everything they needed and waited for an evacuation bus that would take them to a safe place. Residents on the outskirts of the city waited outside for the bus for more than an hour, exposing themselves to even more radiation. Fortunately, the structure of the streets was such that the bus could drive up to every house, and people did not have to stretch across the entire city with their things and children on their shoulders.
Many city residents were in such shock that they refused to evacuate. They had to be taken out by force by police officers.
The fate of irradiated people
With high levels of radiation exposure, the first symptom of poisoning is vomiting. Already on the first day, the entire hospital was filled with people with such manifestations, but the doctors did not know what was happening to them.
Residents of Pripyat were taken out of the radioactive zone in columns of buses. And according to eyewitnesses, this was not done according to the rules. According to sanitary standards, evacuated people must be changed at the checkpoint, bathed, checked with a dosimeter for radiation levels, transferred to another bus, and then taken to non-contaminated areas. But everything happened in a hurry and not at all like that.
Kindergarten in Chernobyl after 31 years
About the problems that the residents of Pripyat experienced
Residents were taken to nearby villages, as promised, for three days. But later it turned out that the evacuation places were also contaminated, so being here was just as dangerous as in Pripyat. People left to the mercy of fate by the state dispersed throughout the USSR to visit relatives.
But not all those who fled the Exclusion Zone were welcome in other territories. Those who were accepted by relatives or acquaintances were lucky, because many residents of Pripyat, when they called for help, were refused even by their closest people.
The attitude in hospitals and government agencies also left much to be desired.
Those admitted to hospitals were chased out of their offices, forced to bathe and change clothes, and generally looked at askance. Under such pressure, many could not stand it and soon the question “Does anyone live in Pripyat” could again be answered positively, as people returned to the destroyed paradise.
As a result, more than 47 thousand people were evacuated from Pripyat. The rest were workers of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, victims of the explosion or serious radiation, or fled the city on their own.
Monument to those killed in Chernobyl
The youngest victims
The children of Pripyat, like their parents, suffered from the disaster both physically and morally. When evacuated women at various stages of pregnancy were taken to hospitals, the treatment they received was simply appalling.
They were all gathered in one sanatorium. There, without the support of family and friends, they gave birth or reached term. The conditions were, to put it mildly, terrible. There was practically no attention from the medical staff.
However, doctors showed interest in one issue. They all insisted that pregnant women who arrived from Pripyat should not give birth. They justified their beliefs by the fact that “the child will not be born healthy anyway” and “will only suffer.”
Even hearing such facts is terrible. Imagine how a woman felt who had lost everything and they still wanted to take away her most precious thing - her child!
Many women who were about to give birth refused any intervention and were determined to give birth. The doctors tried their best to dissuade them, but they firmly stood their ground.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
Radioactive gynecological chair in Pripyat
There were also those who agreed, perhaps out of fear, lack of experience or stress. They were making a big mistake in their lives. No one knew who this child would be or what he would become. Or maybe he would have grown up and taught the whole world to eliminate radiation and its effects on humans in a matter of minutes. But no one will know this anymore. One thing is clear, many women regretted what they had done, since they were never able to have their children again.
It also happened that doctors, without permission or notification of the patient, injected her with drugs that caused artificial labor. Such incidents are rare, but they still happened.
Of course, not all children who were irradiated were born healthy. To this day, doctors cannot determine with certainty whether some diseases were the result of radiation.
Do people live in Pripyat now?
Most people who read the terrible facts from the history of the city have a fair question whether people live in Pripyat now. This question is ambiguous. Therefore, let's try to figure it out together: does anyone live in Pripyat, do people live in Pripyat who once escaped from the city of death, and when will it be possible to live a full life in Pripyat.
Despite the status of a doomed city, a city of death, Pripyat is not completely abandoned by people. First of all, the area is inhabited by those who work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. For the normal protection of the city and to control the people living on the territory of Pripyat, police and security units were formed.
They also work at checkpoints through which hundreds of tourists pass every day. These people live in the city conditionally, using the principle of rotation. They stay in the city in rotation, no more than two weeks, after which they undergo rehabilitation and rest at home.
In general, personnel are engaged in monitoring the rest of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant complex, which includes 3 more reactors. The operation of a nuclear power plant cannot be stopped with one keystroke. This is a very long and meticulous process that requires gradual freezing of the active components. There are people living in Pripyat who are helping to complete this task safely - so that the horrific tragedy does not happen again on a new, even larger scale.
Dormitory near the Chernobyl-2 site
Who else lives in the city of death?
Also on the territory of the city there are personnel who are indirectly related to the liquidation of the accident. These people are dosimetrists. Their duty is to monitor the level of radiation in the city, look for options to reduce or destroy it, as well as medical staff and others.
In Pripyat there live people who study animals and plants. They set up camera traps that film all the forests and open spaces of the city around the clock.
By the way, we can definitely give another answer to the question “is there life in Pripyat”. Every year more and more living creatures arrive in the forests around Pripyat. These wild animals are also inhabitants of the exclusion zone.
Stalkers in Pripyat
Who now lives in Pripyat besides the liquidators, security and service personnel are stalkers. The Hermits got their name from the computer game of the same name S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Stalkers are a kind of extreme people who try to answer the question “is it possible to live in Pripyat?”, and play games with fate. Stalkers have long since become comfortable in the exclusion zone.
They bought candles, since there is no electricity here, and bought a gas stove with a burner, on which they cook their food. Everything you need is usually bought in Slavutich, which is only 50 km away. But sometimes, to add romance and thrill, they go through the “stash” of other groups of stalkers, looking for the desired product.
You will be surprised to ask, is it possible to live in Pripyat and even earn money? Stalkers claim that it is possible. They organize excursions around the city almost every day, both for Ukrainians and foreigners. They show people different places, take them to the forest and to houses where people used to live. But from the point of view of the law, they live and do business in this territory illegally. The police are hunting for them throughout the city.
In the evening, stalkers gather in one of the abandoned apartments and try to restore them. They demolish all the surviving household items from different parts of the city, carry out restoration, and then celebrate the work done.
Are the people living in Pripyat indigenous?
Do people who were evacuated from the city at the time of the accident still live in Pripyat? This issue is the most controversial. Some sources answer: “yes.” They say that immediately after 2 weeks after the evacuation, many returned to their homes, and some managed to avoid evacuation. But this information does not completely reflect information about whether people live in Pripyat.
As you know, Pripyat is closed, all the houses have been stolen, the buildings are in disrepair. Dosimetrists walked throughout the city and lowered the radiation level, checking every corner. The city is fenced with barbed wire. So, to the question that interests many people about whether people live in Pripyat, we will most likely answer no. The city has been turned into a tourist center and it looks more impressive without the population.
Radioactive mug and book in Chernobyl
But the second version says that the “self-settlers” live not in the city, but in its environs. This fact is more reliable. Such people who returned home without finding refuge in the big world are called "". They are mostly elderly, with an average age of 60 years. They lead a calm and measured lifestyle. They grow fruits and vegetables in the garden, keep livestock, pick local berries and mushrooms, and go fishing.
The level of radiation and its danger turned out to be powerless in the face of feelings for their home, which forever tied them to itself. Residents claim that the products are completely safe and that they can be eaten with complete peace of mind. But we advise you to avoid eating such food.
Recently, “self-settlers” have begun to be perceived as one of their own. They began to carry products to special centers for examination with dosimeters. Unfortunately, we do not know the results of the research. But we can assume that if the inhabitants eat these foods and are still alive, then the radiation level is not that great. Or maybe problems will manifest themselves later.
Self-settlers sometimes leave the Pripyat area to visit relatives. Sometimes relatives come to visit them.
Graffiti in Pripyat
Ghosts in Pripyat
Whether there is a ? An ordinary person would answer that, of course not. But those who live in Pripyat say that sometimes at night they see shadows and hear whispers, although there is no one in the area. This fact remains very interesting and mysterious.
On the one hand, the ghosts of Pripyat may simply be the same stalkers, or vandals who, hiding their crimes in the dark, work mainly at night. And a worker who is tired during the day can see and hear anything in his sleepy head.
But on the other hand, Pripyat is a ghost town. He has such a terrible and terrible story that it sends chills down your spine. It is quite possible that a ghost is flying around the city, who lives further and only fuels interest in the curious question for many about whether people live in Pripyat.
“Do people live in Pripyat” in facts
- At the time of the accident, there were 49.5 thousand inhabitants in Pripyat. 47.5 thousand were evacuated;
- Ordinary people were exposed to radiation for more than 38 hours;
- Evacuations were carried out forcibly in some cases;
- Attitudes towards refugees from the Exclusion Zone in uninfected territories were more negative than positive;
- Children of Chernobyl became infected with radiation just like adults. Another conversation is about the unborn children at the time of the accident. The effects were greatest on embryos between one and four months of age. When their body is formed. In other months, radiation causes much less harm to children. Because of this, many doctors recommended abortion for pregnant women at Chernobyl;
- The question “Do people live in Pripyat?” ambiguous. On the one hand, staff and police live here legally, stalkers live here illegally. On the other hand, ordinary residents do not live here: they live in the vicinity of Pripyat;
- You can stay in Pripyat and the Exclusion Zone for no more than 2 weeks. One day in the Exclusion Zone is equal to one x-ray session;
- The city of Pripyat is the most important ghost; it will forever remain a shadow of the past.
Now you know whether people live in Pripyat. Share this information with your friends - perhaps they are also not indifferent to what happened in Chernobyl more than 30 years ago and what is happening now.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant alone employs about 2,500 people, not counting other enterprises in the exclusion zone. What are all these people doing at a non-energy generating nuclear facility at the moment and what will happen there in the future?
Conventionally, everything that is happening at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant today can be divided into three intersecting areas:
1) final decommissioning of the enterprise;
2) work on international projects;
3) transformation of the Shelter Object into an environmentally friendly system, or, to put it very simply, the construction of the Arch.
The first direction involves active activities on an industrial site right up to 2065. To date, from all shutdown reactors and cooling pools, all nuclear fuel (more than 20 thousand spent fuel assemblies) has been unloaded and transferred for temporary storage to the spent nuclear fuel storage facility (with the exception of 53 damaged fuel assemblies located in cooling pools 1 and 2). blocks, they will be removed over the next year and placed in ISF-1 in special channels).
Until 2022, it is planned to finally close and mothball all reactors and the most “dirty” equipment, after which a long “waiting” period is planned for more than 20 years (until 2045), during which, according to calculations, the natural half-life of radionuclides will occur, and therefore a decrease in equipment and structures. At this time, external structures will be dismantled.
Then, for another 20 years, all the equipment inside the premises, and at the same time the unstable elements of the buildings, will also be dismantled, what can be decontaminated and removed from regulatory control, scrapped, what cannot be buried, the tents of the blocks will be lowered, the site will be cleaned.
Initially, it was planned that the most correct thing would be to turn the industrial site into a “Brown Spot” by 2065 and “forget” about this territory. However, taking into account the specifics of the exclusion zone, the potential of personnel and other factors, now we are talking about the fact that it would be most optimal to integrate the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site into the industrial complex of Ukraine. That is, to create “near-nuclear” production there - for example, for the processing and storage of radioactive waste, spent fuel, etc., which is already partially being implemented today within the framework of the second mentioned direction “international projects”.
Currently, within international technical assistance projects(which implies joint financing by the West and Ukraine) more than 10 projects are being implemented at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, without which it is simply unrealistic to decommission the power units. 
Photo: Chernobyl NPP press service, chnpp.gov.ua
For example, during its operation, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accumulated about 20 thousand cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste and more than 300 thousand cubic meters of solid radioactive waste. As mentioned above, it is necessary to dismantle and decontaminate equipment, core structures, including graphite, sand, metal, etc. In order to somehow deal with all these lakes and mountains of radioactive materials, a liquid radioactive waste processing plant (LRWRT) was built ) and a complex for solid radioactive waste management (SROW). In the first it is planned to pack more than forty 200-liter barrels per day, in the second - 20 cubic meters of fuel per day. In order to have something to pack RO into, a complex for the production of barrels and containers was built on the site (about 35 thousand metal barrels and 700 reinforced concrete containers per year). In order to shred “oversized” waste, the installation for cutting long waste is being modernized. To store spent nuclear fuel removed from reactors, a storage facility was built (ISF-2, 21 thousand spent fuel assemblies).
Separately, it is worth mentioning the construction of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (CSSF), which was launched on August 26 of this year. First of all, the construction of such a facility will strengthen the energy independence of Ukraine. Until recently, all spent fuel from Ukrainian nuclear power plants was exported for considerable sums—about $200 million per year—for subsequent reprocessing to Russia. Russia extracted all valuable elements from the spent nuclear fuel, and the fuel - already in the form of radioactive waste - was returned back.
Meanwhile, today all countries have taken the path of a “deferred solution”: they do not reprocess spent fuel, but temporarily place it in storage facilities in the hope that in the near future progress will lead to the emergence of technologies that allow the most efficient reuse of spent fuel. 
Photo: Chernobyl NPP press service, chnpp.gov.ua
Presumably, the costs of construction and operation of the central storage facility will be almost four times less than the total costs that Ukraine currently incurs when exporting spent nuclear fuel to Russia. After the construction of the start-up complex (it is expected that this will happen in 2017), the spent fuel from the Khmelnytsky, Rivne and South Ukrainian nuclear power plants will be sent to its own central storage facility. The design capacity of the storage facility will presumably be 16.53 thousand spent fuel elements, and the operating period will be 100 years.
And this is only part of the work on international projects.
Finally, the third area of activity of the Chernobyl NPP is New Safe Confinement, better known as "Arch".
It is unlikely that anyone has not yet heard that the “Sarcophagus”, erected after the accident in heroic haste (in 206 days), is extremely leaky and through holes in the roof at night shitiks look at you with sad, glowing eyes. There is some truth in this myth.
- Firstly, about 180 tons of fuel remained inside the destroyed reactor, turned into fuel-containing masses, resulting in radiation levels inside reaching thousands of roentgens to this day.
- Secondly, indeed, the tightness of the structure always left much to be desired; the total area of cracks in the roof and walls at the time of its commissioning was 1000 sq.m. After the stabilization of building structures and light roof repair work in 2008, the situation undoubtedly improved, but not dramatically.
- Thirdly, the period of safe operation of the “newly erected metal structures” of the Shelter object is 30 years, that is, it ends in 2016.
Photo: Chernobyl NPP press service, chnpp.gov.ua
In order to solve all these problems in one fell swoop, it was decided for the next 100 years to cover the entire “Sarcophagus” with a huge arch with a span of 257 meters, more than 100 meters tall (this is a 35-story building), more than 160 meters long (this is one and a half football fields) and weighing more than 30 thousand tons. There is no need to dwell on the unrealistic amount of preparatory work that was done to simply begin construction (just one little detail: more than 55 thousand cubic meters of solid radioactive waste and technological materials were removed from the future construction site), we are talking about the present moment.
Today we have raised two parts of the “Arch”: Eastern (October 2013) and Western (October 2014) - and are as close to each other as possible. In the near future, both parts will be connected to each other; in the Western part, support parts and side segments will be installed in the coming weeks. Then, over the course of a couple of years, the entire structure will be filled with all sorts of useful stuffing, such as ventilation systems, and this bulk will be pushed onto the old, dilapidated “Sarcophagus”, which will make it possible to safely deal with its roof and insides. 
Photo: Chernobyl NPP press service, chnpp.gov.ua
Now you know a little more about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And I would like to hope that this knowledge is transformed into the conclusion voiced by the director of the enterprise, Igor Gramotkin:
“The personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant are unique specialists of the highest level, who, due to their professionalism, easily switched from the tasks of operating a nuclear power plant and generating electricity to the tasks of ensuring the protection of the population and the environment from the influence of ionizing radiation. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a clear example of the dynamics of professionalism. Our main task today is caring for people, caring for a safe future. Yes, we remember our difficult past, we appreciate the lessons that the history of the station gave us, but at the same time we strive to live in the present day, to remain modern, professional, in demand, so that all of Ukraine has a safe future, which we are already building to the best of our ability Today".
Have a safe future everyone!
31 years ago there was a disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The country in which everything happened has long ceased to exist, and the pain still unites the people who suffered during the liquidation of the accident, who were forced to leave cities and villages in a zone that has been called the exclusion zone for more than 30 years.
Alexander Vishnevsky is from these places, born in the village of Ilintsy. In 1986 he played for the football team from Pripyat. On April 26, his “Builder” was supposed to host a match for the Kyiv Region Cup, but the match never took place. Now Vishnevsky trains boys in the city of Slavutich, a few kilometers from Pripyat.
If there is still life in Chernobyl, then Pripyat is a ghost town. Tourists are brought here to look at a fragment of a country that no longer exists. And this fragment is in impenetrable thickets. Only by lifting your head can you see the upper floors of high-rise buildings above the treetops.
Somewhere in the impenetrable wilds is the stadium where Vishnevsky and his “Builder” were supposed to hold that match. Somewhere in the thickets his relatives Ilyintsy are entangled, which former local residents find almost by touch. Alexander went there on April 25 to see his home with a stove; the garden, now completely wild; bow to the graves of relatives.
The route is familiar. On these days - they are called memorial days - entry into the exclusion zone is free. Relatives come to their native ashes (and it’s true - many villages burned without attention), to their fathers’ coffins.
“I just returned,” says Alexander Vishnevsky, whom the RG correspondent found in Slavutich, another satellite city of the Chernobyl station, which fortunately did not share the fate of Pripyat. - Got there without any problems. Now, on memorial days, you do not need to sign up to visit the closed area. Entry is free. They simply give you a pass at the checkpoint, which must be returned upon departure.
- Do many people from your native village come there these days?
Less and less. Mostly children and grandchildren come, not parents. This time there were about 100 people.
- How many people lived in Ilyintsy in 1986, when the disaster happened?
The village was big. About a thousand people. And maybe more.
Did those who are commonly called self-settlers remain in Ilyintsy? That is, people who refused to leave the area after the accident?
They stayed. But the last local resident died this year. Yes, people lived, despite the fact that it was an exclusion zone. Until recently there were two people. But last year my grandmother died alone. And this is it.
- Were they provided with food?
Yes. People work in the exclusion zone - shift workers. They brought food. I don't know, twice or once a week...
More than 30 years ago, people here could not believe that they had to leave their homes. They couldn’t watch how the cattle were taken away. They couldn’t imagine what it would be like to leave their home forever and settle somewhere else, but not come closer than 30 kilometers from home. It was especially difficult for older people who had lived here all their lives. That's why many returned home, despite the ban. They became those same self-settlers.
From the villages that were located on the road to Chernobyl, in some places there were brick buildings, signs with the name of the settlement and mass graves of soldiers and officers who laid down their lives for this land in the Great Patriotic War.
No, no, and a white hut with blue trim will flash in the lush thickets near the road, reminding you that there was life here too.
The Vishnevskys' house in Ilyintsy also had blue trim. Now they have turned whitish. But the sign with the address has not faded - building 115 on Lenin Street. Although the house has fallen into disrepair, it is still standing and invigorated. The stove is gradually collapsing without the owner's attention, but is still quite strong.
It seems that the housewife would come here and instantly restore order, light the fire, and move the cast iron with aromatic and rich borscht into a familiar nook. There's the grip, as before, standing in the corner...
But Alexander Vishnevsky’s mother has not been walking for several years. He can no longer come to clean the house, sprinkling the familiar creaking floorboards underfoot with tears.
Last year, half the village burned down. I don’t know who set the fire... But our house has survived,” says Alexander.
It has been preserved and is meeting its new spring without its owners. Soon the lush greenery will bloom and, together with the silence, will swallow up the old house.
Unless the early spring thunder will remind you of the roar that struck everyone then, in 1986.