Anonymousabout 2 hours ago
On the 40th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster, the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone faces a second crisis: a February 2025 Russian drone strike pierced the €1.5 billion New Safe Confinement arch, leaving it unable to perform its primary safety function, while repair costs of at least €500 million remain hostage to ongoing hostilities. The zone's aging self-settlers, rewilding wildlife, and 2,250 site workers now contend with routine drone overflights, contaminated trenches dug by Russian troops, and an international legal framework with no mechanism to compel accountability.