Chornobyl Was Healing. Then Russia Invaded

After the explosion at Reactor No. 4 at Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) on April 26, 1986, an entire landscape was emptied almost overnight: cities were evacuated, buildings were abandoned and one of the most contaminated areas on Earth was sealed off from human life. 

Chornobyl was supposed to be a place without a future.

However, over the decades that followed, something unexpected happened: forests returned, animals moved through abandoned settlements and rare birds nested in abandoned Soviet buildings. Even Przewalski's horses established a lasting presence in the exclusion zone.

Then, in 2022, Russia's full-scale invasion reached the contaminated ground.

In the absence of people, nature returned

After the 1986 disaster, nearly 2,600 square kilometres were abandoned: farms disappeared, cities emptied and industry stopped almost overnight.

Long-term studies of the Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve show that wolves, lynxes, elks, wild boars and brown bears have reappeared. Przewalski's horses, introduced in the late 1990s, not only survived but also adapted and became an integral part of the local ecosystem.

Bird species are there as well: black storks and white-tailed eagles settled in abandoned buildings and forests. In Prypiat, trees now grow through apartment blocks, roads and school floors, turning a Soviet city into a landscape reclaimed by vegetation.

The exclusion zone has de facto become one of the largest nature reserves in Europe.

However, scientists remain divided on what recovery truly means here: some researchers argue that biodiversity has rebounded remarkably and that the absence of people outweighs the biological cost of radiation. But others document genetic mutations, reduced insect populations and reproductive problems in the most contaminated areas.

Chernobyl's wildlife: the real story isn't the presence of radiation - it's the absence of humans

40 years on from the disaster, why there are foxes, bears and bison again around Chernobyl

How Chernobyl has become an unexpected haven for wildlife

Both sides agree that Chornobyl is neither untouched wilderness nor ecological ruin,it's a damaged landscape where nature adapts under stress and recovers, but not without scars. Thus, the situation in the exclusion zone requires a stable scientific approach, with research and observation, which are challenging to maintain when both the exclusion zone itself and the CNPP are under constant threat due to the Russian war. 

When Russia's war enters the exclusion zone

In February 2022, Russian forces crossed into the Chornobyl exclusion zone and one of the most radioactive environments in Europe suddenly became part of an active war zone:

• The site was seized on the first day of the invasion: Ukrainian workers remained inside the plant for weeks without rotation, maintaining critical systems in an environment of extreme stress and military pressure.
• Sensors installed by Ukraine's Chornobyl EcoCenter detected sharp increases in radiation along roads and near reactor sites after 9 p.m on Feb. 24, 2022.
• In the so-called Red Forest, one of the most contaminated areas on Earth after the 1986 disaster, the Russian military dug trenches: they lifted radioactive dust that had settled for decades. When forced to leave, they abandoned disturbed soil, damaged infrastructure and a radioactive dust cloud carried by wind across forests and fields.
• Armoured vehicles rolled through abandoned roads once used only by researchers and wildlife, through soil that still holds high concentrations of radioactive particles.
• Monitoring systems were disrupted and parts of the scientific infrastructure that had supported decades of international research were damaged or became inaccessible.
• On February 14, 2025, a Russian drone struck the New Safe Confinement, a 1.5 billion-euro steel arch that was built over the destroyed Unit 4 reactor in 2016, under which are radioactive dust, fuel debris and melted reactor material. The IAEA mission confirmed that the strike and fire damaged the arch's exterior and interior coverings, causing a breach in its hermetic seal and loss of protective functions.

Today, Chornobyl is no longer a legacy of a past disaster, but also a reminder that nuclear sites can become exposed to active war and Russia has repeatedly used nuclear risk as part of its military pressure strategy. ( Russia Turns Nuclear Risk Into a Weapon. Again)

What happened in Chornobyl now echoes in other cases, including the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, where nuclear infrastructure has existed under military pressure for four years.

Chornobyl has long existed as more than a disaster site. For many, it became a frozen landscape,a place where the Soviet world remained physically preserved, but suspended between catastrophe and memory. Apartment blocks, schools and abandoned streets became a record of a vanished era.

Yet even this fragile stillness is disappearing. Time, illegal exploration and neglect have slowly altered the zone for years. Now Russia's war threatens it more directly: Russian military activity in the Red Forest disturbed contaminated soil, while damage to the New Safe Confinement raised new questions about long-term nuclear security.

For Ukraine, Chornobyl is pain: lost lives, abandoned settlements and interrupted personal stories. For the world, it stands as a consequence of human recklessness - a disaster shaped by ambition, denial and disregard for the most fundamental value: human life.

And today, Chornobyl remains a reminder of how fragile the world becomes when unchecked power and an authoritarian system override responsibility.

This publication was compiled with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. It's content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.