I was visiting Ukraine by the end of last summer and did a two days trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

And just as if the events around this place would not be tragic enough, a few month later it was occupied by Russian troops. I still can not wrap my head around that.
Supposedly Russian soldiers were even digging trenches in the Red Forest, which is among the most contaminated area and our dossimeters were freaking out as we passed by there…

However, you could only enter the area with an organized tour, but despite the “Disaster-Disneyland-Character” of the entire thing, this trip was an amazing experience.
In our tour were only people from Ukraine and Russia and I was the only guy from the west. There was also a lovely Russian/Ukrainian couple and I can’t imagine what they must be going through now.

At least for now Chernobly is back under Ukrainian control, but the fighting continues elsewere.