40 years after Chornobyl - 4th May 2026

The Chornobyl accident was in 1986. Every year, this town remembers.

Chornobyl was a nuclear accident. It was on 26th April.

There was lots of radiation. It went across Europe.

After the accident, local people helped. Radiation made them sick.

It made 237 very sick. 28 died in 3 months.

Chornobyl isn't safe. People went to Slavutych.

The town remembers its heroes. Yuriy Fomichev is mayor.

Yuriy Fomichev: "April 26th is a significant date for our city. And every year on this night, we gather in the central square to honour those people who saved lives through sheer heroism. Not with technology, not for a large sum of money, but simply because it had to be done. It was necessary to save the world. It was necessary to protect the world from the danger that occurred at the Chornobyl plant."

People helped with many problems. 4,000 to 16,000 died. They made the world safe.

There's a building over Chornobyl. Now, it's damaged. A Russian drone went into it.

Olga Shevchenko's grandparents helped. She's remembering them. She makes points about the future too.

Olga Shevchenko: "Yet this disaster is so immense that it will take many more years to fully liquidate it. I don't know how many hundreds of years it will take. And that is why we must remember both what happened and what will happen, and I don't think the two are connected."