City of Oblivion

PRIPYAT, UKRAINE

This city was born and died for the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant: built in the 1970s, Pripyat housed about 49,000 power plant workers and their families; it was evacuated on April 27, 1986, the day after the No. 4 reactor exploded. Now, nature reclaims the land scattered with faded boards, a rusty Ferris wheel and dusty toys. In 2022, Russian troops occupied the city, but Ukraine regained control two months later.