A Soviet Mi-26 Halo helicopter participating in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor clean-up operation

Chernobyl is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about 90 kilometers (60 mi) north of Kyiv and 160 kilometers (100 mi) southwest of the Belarusian city of Gomel. Before its evacuation, the city had about 14,000 residents, while around 1,000 people live in the city today. The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. It is considered the worst nuclear accident in history, and it resulted in the release of significant amounts of radioactive materials into the environment. The explosion and resulting fire at the plant caused a number of fatalities, and it also led to widespread contamination of the surrounding area. The accident had far-reaching consequences, both in Ukraine and throughout Europe.