Chornobyl’s legacy of state disregard for human life echoes in Russia’s war in Ukraine
Daily Maverick | 05.05.2026 01:13
Four decades ago, the explosion of the Chornobyl (also known as Chernobyl) nuclear power station in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic shook the very foundations of the Cold War world and heralded the beginning of the end of the Soviet era. It also shook millions of lives, including mine – back then a Soviet kid living in Ukraine’s capital who no longer understood the world.
