Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhia – enough already!

by Eugene Czolij
former president of the Ukrainian World Congress
president of the Ukraine-2050 nongovernmental organisation

Source: Kyiv Post 

Read this story in French

The 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster serves as a stark reminder of Soviet – and Russian – disregard for human life. Safety measures were ignored, the explosion was treated as a state secret, and authorities forced 120,000 people to march through Kyiv under a radioactive sky five days later. Decades on, Russia attacked Europe’s largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia and continues to occupy it, underscoring why Ukraine’s allies must act.

Last month, on April 26, Ukrainians worldwide commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl catastrophe, the most serious disaster ever to occur in the nuclear power industry.

Three extremely disturbing facts have been uncovered regarding the Chornobyl nuclear disaster:

1) It could have been avoided. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) posted the following blunt assessment on its website: “Safety measures were ignored.”

2) The Kremlin treated the Chornobyl nuclear explosion as a state secret, thereby compounding the serious human problems resulting from it. Under the heading “International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day,” the UN posted on its website the following damning information: “No reports were released until the third day after the Chornobyl explosion. Then, Swedish authorities […] announced to the world that a nuclear accident had occurred somewhere in the Soviet Union. Before Sweden’s announcement, the Soviet authorities […] had chosen not to report the accident or its scale in full. No established legitimate authority was able to immediately address the situation and provide answers to questions such as: Is it safe to leave the house? Is it safe to drink water? Is it safe to eat local produce? Communicating protective measures early would also have most likely enabled the population to escape exposure to some radionuclides, such as iodine 131, which are known to cause thyroid cancer. Early evacuation would have helped people avoid the area during the period when iodine 131 is most dangerous, 8-16 days after release.”

2) The Kremlin treated the Chornobyl nuclear explosion as a state secret, thereby compounding the serious human problems resulting from it. Under the heading “International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day,” the UN posted on its website the following damning information: “No reports were released until the third day after the Chornobyl explosion. Then, Swedish authorities […] announced to the world that a nuclear accident had occurred somewhere in the Soviet Union. Before Sweden’s announcement, the Soviet authorities […] had chosen not to report the accident or its scale in full. No established legitimate authority was able to immediately address the situation and provide answers to questions such as: Is it safe to leave the house? Is it safe to drink water? Is it safe to eat local produce? Communicating protective measures early would also have most likely enabled the population to escape exposure to some radionuclides, such as iodine 131, which are known to cause thyroid cancer. Early evacuation would have helped people avoid the area during the period when iodine 131 is most dangerous, 8-16 days after release.”

A month prior to the Chornobyl explosion, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had addressed the 27th Congress of the Communist Party to announce a new way of thinking under the slogans of “glasnost” and “perestroika.” Clearly, two slogans that were not applied to the Chornobyl catastrophe.

A fitting epilogue to this shocking information is that in February 2025, during Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, 39 years after the Chornobyl disaster, a Russian drone damaged the metal structure installed in 2016 to cover the Chornobyl reactor and protect the previous sarcophagus. The cost of restoring this structure is estimated at about €500 million ($585 million).

Equally, if not more disturbing because of its potential far-reaching devastation, is that 36 years after witnessing the horrors of Chornobyl, Russia attacked Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

At the March 4, 2022 UN Security Council Emergency Meeting on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made these chilling remarks regarding that attack: “By the grace of God, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night. We all waited to exhale as we watched the horrific situation unfold in real time. I applaud the ability of the Ukrainian operators to keep all six reactors in safe conditions while under attack and to report, as they were able to, to their nuclear regulator. […] Russia’s attack last night put Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at grave risk. It was incredibly reckless and dangerous. And it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.”

These historic remarks are an acknowledgment by a US Ambassador that Ukraine has not only defended its territorial integrity during Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, but also successfully protected Europe when Russia attacked Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. It’s located in the Zaporizhzhia region, but radiation does not require a Schengen visa to travel from Ukraine throughout Europe.

Russia weaponizes everything it can, including nuclear power plants. Its army still occupies Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and continues its devastating daily attacks on Ukraine’s civil infrastructure with missiles and drones.

To eliminate the Kremlin’s threat to global security and prevent it from causing more catastrophes with long-lasting and widespread repercussions, NATO member countries must recognize that the Kremlin cannot be trusted and help Ukraine effectively shield its airspace and liberate the territories currently occupied by the Russian army, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.