On Sunday, April 26, Ukraine and the world will mark 40 years since the Chornobyl disaster — the worst accident in the history of civilian nuclear power. That day, we honour the memory of over 600,000 heroic liquidators who risked and sacrificed their health and lives to save the world from the consequences of the disaster. What exploded in 1986 was not only a reactor. The Chornobyl tragedy was the ultimate manifestation of Soviet irresponsibility, as official secrecy, negligence, and systemic lies culminated in a disaster of global consequence felt across Europe and even in the Arctic.

The explosion at reactor no. 4 was the result of grave flaws in the reactor’s design and a Soviet system built on secrecy, irresponsibility and contempt for safety. For days, the fire sent radioactive material far beyond Ukraine’s borders, contaminating large parts of Europe. The total radiation from the released isotopes was 30 times greater than that from the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Over 145,000 square kilometres of land were contaminated with radionuclides, and 8.5 million people were exposed to radiation.

The Kremlin hid the true scale of the disaster and its consequences. Diagnoses of radiation exposure were falsified, and data on contamination remained classified until 1989. Over the decades, books, films, documentaries, and investigations have revealed the full scale of the tragedy and its long-term consequences. Chornobyl was a verdict on the Soviet system itself. Four decades later, Russia — the self-proclaimed heir to that system — is once again putting the world at nuclear risk.........

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