April 26, 2024 marks 38 years since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. However, since 2022 ---- today we remember another tragedy that Chernobyl had to experience ---- The invasion of Russian troops.
Chernobyl NPP is located near the city of Pripyat, 18 kilometers from the city of Chernobyl, 16 kilometers from the Belarusian border and 110 kilometers from Kiev. On April 26, 1986 at 01:23 the largest man-made and environmental and humanitarian accident in the history of mankind occurred - the fourth Chernobyl reactor exploded. The nuclear power plant. The disaster is considered the largest in the history of nuclear energy, both in terms of the number of people killed and affected by its consequences, and in terms of economic damage.
As a result of the Chernobyl accident, 100 times more radiation was emitted than from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
800 thousand people risked their lives and health, eliminating the consequences of the accident. 25 thousand of them died, and more than 70 thousand became disabled. Millions of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians received significant doses of radiation in the first days after the explosion.
On the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos Igor Kostinwho, risking his life and health, documented the liquidation of the effects of the disaster; Viktor Marushchenko, who filmed the lives of the inhabitants left to live in the exclusion zone, and Vyacheslav Ratinsky, who visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a year after the Russian occupation.
Photos of Kostin were allowed by the Soviet leadership to be published only a few weeks after the tragedy. The pictures spread around the world, testifying to the scale of the disaster. Kostin was the only photographer who took a photo of the destroyed reactor almost up close.
From the first days of the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Igor Kostin was in the zone of high doses of radiation: he descended twice into the fourth reactor and climbed five times to the roof of the third reactor, flew over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant dozens of times by helicopter.
For his work on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Kostin received the most prestigious prize in the field of photojournalism — World Press Photo 1987. His photo project took first place in the Science & Technology category.
Then Igor Kostin returned repeatedly to the exclusion zone, and also filmed victims of radiation sickness: liquidators and local residents. The photographer documented the terrible effects of radioactive pollution on people and animals in Ukraine and Belarus.
In 2002, Igor Kostin published the book Chernobyl: Confession of a Reporter, where he included his photographs of the disaster and the elimination of its consequences. His works were included in the anthology “One Hundred Reporters of the 20th Century”. Igor Kostin died in 2015 at the age of 79.
In the 90s, he actively documented the lives of people who remained living in the Chernobyl zone after the disaster Victor Marushchenko.In his photos ---- the tragedy of a person faced with a major man-made disaster, as well as social and political changes that took place at a turning point for the country.
The photo series later in the 2000s was shown at the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2021 Untitled posted these photos.
The famous Ukrainian photographer died on the night of September 29, 2020 at the age of 74. The last period of his life, Victor struggled with a serious illness.
For the second time, the world's attention was focused on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the spring of 2022, when Russian troops entered the exclusion zone from the territory of Belarus. From February 24 to April 2, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was under occupation. Then about 300 people were held hostage: personnel and military who were at the station at that time. For 36 days the Russians controlled the station, putting Ukraine, Europe and the whole world at risk of nuclear disaster.
The occupiers, not realizing the danger, dug themselves headlong soils contaminated with radiation, scooped radioactive sand into fortification bags, and breathed in this dust.
On March 31, 2022, the Russians leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, stealing computers, kettles, coffee makers, and containers with property that was at the nuclear plant. They also looted a hotel located next to the nuclear power plant.
Now civilians are forbidden to travel to the exclusion zone, as the occupiers have left behind large areas of mined areas. Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Vyacheslav Ratynskyi was able to enter the regime facility a year after the liberation ---- in the spring of 2023.
“NPP workers now, in addition to the anniversary of the disaster, recall with horror the occupation, ----says Vyacheslav., ----They spent the entire month of occupation held hostage by the Russians. In terrible conditions without food and often with limited access to water. I had the impression that even a year after the occupation, they were still going through everything that had happened and were in a pretty depressed state.”
The occupation and their fellow National Guardsmen remember with the same sadness. Recall that the servicemen of a small unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, who guarded the Chernobyl NPP, were captured on February 24, 2022. In the spring of 2023, the Ukrainian side managed to return 47 National Guardsmen home. Currently, 130 soldiers of the NGU are in Russian captivity.
Igor Kostin — civil engineer by profession, for almost a decade — chief designer, in 1972 he changed his life drastically and professionally engaged in photography. Author of hundreds of reports, starting from the first hours after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. More than 250 of his documentary photographs were included in the official report of the IAEA and the government of the USSR. Igor Kostin died in a car accident in 2015. He was 78 years old.
Viktor Marushchenko(1946—2020) — Ukrainian photographer, art critic and teacher of photography. He began photographing in the mid-1970s as a theater photographer. He worked as a photocorrespondent for the newspaper “Soviet Culture” (1980—1991), “Soviet Culture” in Ukraine and “Day” (1997—1998). Participant in more than 60 solo and group photo exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine. In 2004, Viktor Marushchenko founded his own photography school and was engaged in teaching. In 2010, he began publishing a print photo magazine “5.6".
Vyacheslav Ratynskyi — Ukrainian documentary photographer and photojournalist. He has been working in the field of photojournalism for more than 10 years. Collaborates with international and Ukrainian news agencies and media, including Reuters, The Guardian, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine and others.
He has been published in many Western and Ukrainian media, including: The Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, The New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and others.
Participant in many photo exhibitions in Europe, USA, Japan and South Korea. His photographs have been published in several books.
The material was worked on:
Author of the text, researcher of the topic: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
April 26, 2024 marks 38 years since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. However, since 2022 ---- today we remember another tragedy that Chernobyl had to experience ---- The invasion of Russian troops.
Chernobyl NPP is located near the city of Pripyat, 18 kilometers from the city of Chernobyl, 16 kilometers from the Belarusian border and 110 kilometers from Kiev. On April 26, 1986 at 01:23 the largest man-made and environmental and humanitarian accident in the history of mankind occurred - the fourth Chernobyl reactor exploded. The nuclear power plant. The disaster is considered the largest in the history of nuclear energy, both in terms of the number of people killed and affected by its consequences, and in terms of economic damage.
As a result of the Chernobyl accident, 100 times more radiation was emitted than from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
800 thousand people risked their lives and health, eliminating the consequences of the accident. 25 thousand of them died, and more than 70 thousand became disabled. Millions of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians received significant doses of radiation in the first days after the explosion.
On the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers publishes photos Igor Kostinwho, risking his life and health, documented the liquidation of the effects of the disaster; Viktor Marushchenko, who filmed the lives of the inhabitants left to live in the exclusion zone, and Vyacheslav Ratinsky, who visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a year after the Russian occupation.
Photos of Kostin were allowed by the Soviet leadership to be published only a few weeks after the tragedy. The pictures spread around the world, testifying to the scale of the disaster. Kostin was the only photographer who took a photo of the destroyed reactor almost up close.
From the first days of the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Igor Kostin was in the zone of high doses of radiation: he descended twice into the fourth reactor and climbed five times to the roof of the third reactor, flew over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant dozens of times by helicopter.
For his work on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Kostin received the most prestigious prize in the field of photojournalism — World Press Photo 1987. His photo project took first place in the Science & Technology category.
Then Igor Kostin returned repeatedly to the exclusion zone, and also filmed victims of radiation sickness: liquidators and local residents. The photographer documented the terrible effects of radioactive pollution on people and animals in Ukraine and Belarus.
In 2002, Igor Kostin published the book Chernobyl: Confession of a Reporter, where he included his photographs of the disaster and the elimination of its consequences. His works were included in the anthology “One Hundred Reporters of the 20th Century”. Igor Kostin died in 2015 at the age of 79.
In the 90s, he actively documented the lives of people who remained living in the Chernobyl zone after the disaster Victor Marushchenko.In his photos ---- the tragedy of a person faced with a major man-made disaster, as well as social and political changes that took place at a turning point for the country.
The photo series later in the 2000s was shown at the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2021 Untitled posted these photos.
The famous Ukrainian photographer died on the night of September 29, 2020 at the age of 74. The last period of his life, Victor struggled with a serious illness.
For the second time, the world's attention was focused on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the spring of 2022, when Russian troops entered the exclusion zone from the territory of Belarus. From February 24 to April 2, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was under occupation. Then about 300 people were held hostage: personnel and military who were at the station at that time. For 36 days the Russians controlled the station, putting Ukraine, Europe and the whole world at risk of nuclear disaster.
The occupiers, not realizing the danger, dug themselves headlong soils contaminated with radiation, scooped radioactive sand into fortification bags, and breathed in this dust.
On March 31, 2022, the Russians leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, stealing computers, kettles, coffee makers, and containers with property that was at the nuclear plant. They also looted a hotel located next to the nuclear power plant.
Now civilians are forbidden to travel to the exclusion zone, as the occupiers have left behind large areas of mined areas. Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Vyacheslav Ratynskyi was able to enter the regime facility a year after the liberation ---- in the spring of 2023.
“NPP workers now, in addition to the anniversary of the disaster, recall with horror the occupation, ----says Vyacheslav., ----They spent the entire month of occupation held hostage by the Russians. In terrible conditions without food and often with limited access to water. I had the impression that even a year after the occupation, they were still going through everything that had happened and were in a pretty depressed state.”
The occupation and their fellow National Guardsmen remember with the same sadness. Recall that the servicemen of a small unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, who guarded the Chernobyl NPP, were captured on February 24, 2022. In the spring of 2023, the Ukrainian side managed to return 47 National Guardsmen home. Currently, 130 soldiers of the NGU are in Russian captivity.
Igor Kostin — civil engineer by profession, for almost a decade — chief designer, in 1972 he changed his life drastically and professionally engaged in photography. Author of hundreds of reports, starting from the first hours after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. More than 250 of his documentary photographs were included in the official report of the IAEA and the government of the USSR. Igor Kostin died in a car accident in 2015. He was 78 years old.
Viktor Marushchenko(1946—2020) — Ukrainian photographer, art critic and teacher of photography. He began photographing in the mid-1970s as a theater photographer. He worked as a photocorrespondent for the newspaper “Soviet Culture” (1980—1991), “Soviet Culture” in Ukraine and “Day” (1997—1998). Participant in more than 60 solo and group photo exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine. In 2004, Viktor Marushchenko founded his own photography school and was engaged in teaching. In 2010, he began publishing a print photo magazine “5.6".
Vyacheslav Ratynskyi — Ukrainian documentary photographer and photojournalist. He has been working in the field of photojournalism for more than 10 years. Collaborates with international and Ukrainian news agencies and media, including Reuters, The Guardian, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine and others.
He has been published in many Western and Ukrainian media, including: The Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, The New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and others.
Participant in many photo exhibitions in Europe, USA, Japan and South Korea. His photographs have been published in several books.
The material was worked on:
Author of the text, researcher of the topic: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
