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Survivors return to Chernobyl, 40 years after devastating explosion

Workers who helped clean up the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster honour their fallen comrades. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Oleksii Lebedynets, 65, served in the military from 1986 to 1991, building fences in contaminated areas. He suffered from headaches for the rest of his life. Returning now, he stopped at Pripyat, the nearby city for Chornobyl's workers, which has been abandoned since the accident. "It's heartbreaking to see Pripyat now," he said. "I remember those houses when they were full of life, and now everything is overgrown and in ruins. It was such a beautiful city." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Stanislav Tolumnyi, 65, left, and Mykola Chudak, 66, walk with fellow workers who helped clean up contamination from the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, in the nearby abandoned town of Prypiat. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Bumper cars sit idle at an overgrown amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine, a town abandoned following the nearby 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Anatolii Prylipko, 66, first arrived nine days after the accident and drove a fire truck for a month, working two-hour shifts to limit his exposure. He initially was unaware of the risks but suffered a health crisis in 1990 and could not work for a year. Returning now for the first time since that deployment, he found the landscape disorienting, with villages erased and the reactor sealed under protective layers. "Back then, the whole place was packed: machinery, helicopters, they were everywhere," he said. "The road to Kyiv was so crowded you couldn't pass anyone." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, one of the workers who helped decontaminate the area around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 accident, rides in a bus with fellow workers for a visit to the region before the 40th anniversary of the disaster in Chornobyl, Ukraine. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

In summer 1986, Anatolii Krutik, 63, was deployed as part of an army battalion to fence off contaminated territory and designate "exclusion zones". He first went to villages in what is now Belarus, which also received heavy radioactive fallout, before he headed to Chornobyl to clean areas around the remaining reactors that were still running. At the time, he said, there was little sense of fear. "No one really thought about it. We didn't know what it was, this invisible enemy," he said, adding his comrades saw it simply as their duty after being mobilised. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Paintings of deer decorate a wall in the abandoned town of Prypiat, Ukraine, near the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Viktor Hluhovtsov, 66, was sent to Ukraine and Belarus, where large areas had to be fenced off due to radiation in the soil and abandoned buildings. With dark humour, he jokes about his many illnesses. "As my wife says, I have a whole bouquet of ailments," he says. After being hospitalised for weeks this year, he recovered and said he hopes to see Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. "The doctors didn't know what to do with me, but thank God I survived," he said. "Now I just hope to live long enough to see the end of this war - long enough to see victory." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, was sent to Chornobyl in summer 1986 to clear away topsoil, clean buildings and make the other still-functioning reactors on the site safe. He has been ill for much of his life, which he attributes to working at the disaster site, including chronic dizziness, weakness and frequent pain. Because of his poor health, he said, he lost touch with colleagues from that time. "Being back here now, the emotions are overwhelming," he said. "It's incredibly sad to compare what this place was to what it is now." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

In 1989, Anatolii Taranenko, 62, was a security officer, guarding facilities and abandoned homes. Deployments were short due to radiation, and orders were followed without question. He has returned several times since, despite the grief that accompanies each visit. "Back then, that was just how it was: If you were needed, you went," he said. He said he is still being treated for health problems at a veterans' hospital in Poltava and does his best to stay fit. "We are military people - once a soldier, always a soldier. That's how I live my life. You have to hold yourself together," he said. "You can't just give up." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Serhii Buriak, 60, served in a special Interior Ministry unit in 1988, patrolling Pripyat and nearby areas to guard against looting. His duties included securing abandoned buildings. He said his return visit reconnected him with the sense of duty he felt, while many liquidators still struggle for recognition. "Returning here after 40 years is a massive adrenaline rush for me. It brings back so many memories of my youth and what life was like during those times," he said. "It was important for me to come back to remember those years and to show my son where I fulfilled my duty to my country." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Workers who were sent to clean up contamination from the 1986 Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident pass through a radiation inspection point at the plant in Chornobyl, Ukraine. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Mykola Chudak, 66, a firefighter, served for six months, beginning in November 1986, working within 10km (6 miles) of the plant. He focused not on his own role but on the first responders who acted immediately, saying they prevented a far greater catastrophe, often at the cost of their own lives. His service was extended because of a lack of replacements, and years later, he was forced into early retirement due to disability. For him, Chornobyl carries both personal and national significance. "Ukraine must always be grateful to the heroes of Chornobyl," he said. "Being back here, my first feeling is one of immense gratitude for the sacrifice made by my comrades. In many ways, the independence of Ukraine was born on April 26, 1986, in Chornobyl. Without their heroism, an independent Ukraine might not even exist today." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

Ukraine Chernobyl Liquidators Photo Essay

Workers who helped clean up contamination from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident place flowers at a monument at the facility in Chornobyl. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

From May to September 1986, Oleksii Harbuz, 72, a medical officer and dentist, treated patients while his unit worked on decontamination. He also worked in Belarus, which put him close to the human costs of the disaster. Returning for the first time in decades, he recalled colleagues who have since died and the bonds formed among survivors. "This 40th anniversary represents both a deep tragedy and a vital chance to reunite with my brothers-in-arms," he said. "So many of our colleagues have passed away over the years, but those of us remaining hold on. Being back here for the first time in 40 years is overwhelming. I feel a deep sense of pain, and it brings tears to my eyes. It is good that we can meet like this." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]

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