My dad turned 9 years old on the day of the Chernobyl disaster. Two years later, his father was sent to the city to clean up the contaminated area and manage the consequences of the catastrophe. He spent around five months maintaining the station, managing a team of people and ensuring that safety protocols were followed. Back then, everything was covered in radioactive dust, and even eating an apple from a tree or sitting on a park bench could be deadly. The radiation deteriorated not only the environment but also people’s physical and mental health. Some of his fellow liquidators lost their minds after getting lost in the Red Forest, a strip of greenery around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. My dad, a physician, explains that everyone reacted to the radiation differently.
When my grandfather left for Chernobyl in 1988, he said goodbye not knowing if he would return. He did, and for us, April 26 is marked both with happiness and grief — we celebrate my dad’s birthday but also remember the lives lost and damaged due to the catastrophe. Learning about the dreadful impact of the mismanagement of nuclear power since my childhood from someone who was there makes the recent Russian attacks on Chernobyl beyond concerning for me. Such news triggers the generational trauma that all Ukrainians share.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear plants in southern and northern Ukraine have been occupied and damaged by Russian weaponry. The Kakhovka dam destruction interfered with the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia plant, and drones hit the infrastructure many times. While the Zaporizhzhia plant remains under Russian control, the one in Chernobyl was liberated. While it seems that we can finally feel a bit more at peace, Russia continues to shell the facility as if they forgot the gloomy event of 1986.
On Friday, Russia attacked Chernobyl again, damaging the plant with a drone warhead. The radiation levels remained normal, yet the attack stands out in its cruelty due to the timing. The plant was hit on the first day of the Munich Security Conference and just a couple of days after President Donald Trump said he planned to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss possibilities of ending the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented that the blow against Chernobyl was a “very clear greeting from Putin and the Russian Federation to the conference.” Attacking a nuclear facility and risking another catastrophe does not seem like a good starting point for negotiations.
The United States and the European Union should react to the attack with more concern, recognizing that it is Putin’s tactic to establish power in the potential peace talks. Brushing this assault under the rug as if it was ‘just another bombing’ is unacceptable. The nuclear power play should be taken seriously not only from the perspective of the possible environmental and economic consequences of another disaster but also out of respect for the memory of the Chernobyl tragedy, which affected not only Ukraine but much of Eastern Europe. If we want to achieve stable peace, we cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s constant crossing of red lines, especially regarding nuclear energy. I hope that someday there will be justice for those who took part in relieving the impact of the Chernobyl disaster and Ukrainians who have been protecting democracy in Europe.
