Pripyat

Pripyat is a ghost town in northern Ukraine, located in Kyiv Oblast near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and on the Pripyat River. It lies within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and is now a site of limited controlled access for researchers and tourists.

Pripyat was built in the 1970s as a planned city to house workers and their families associated with the nearby nuclear power plant. It was designed to be a modern Soviet city with apartments, schools, a hospital, a cultural center, and various amenities to serve a growing population. The town featured a stadium and cultural facilities, and it gained notoriety for its relatively rapid development and youthful demographics.

Before the disaster, Pripyat had a population of about 49,000 people and was considered a thriving community for plant workers and their families. After the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, the city was evacuated within days as radiation concerns grew. The evacuation began on April 27 and was completed within a short period, with residents never returning to live there permanently.

Today, Pripyat remains largely abandoned, its streets and buildings subjected to decades of decay and vandalism. The site is part of the larger Exclusion Zone around the Chernobyl plant. A portion of the town is accessible through guided tours, offering visitors a glimpse of a once-bustling city frozen in time, with notable landmarks such as an abandoned amusement park that includes a ferris wheel. The city serves as a historical reminder of the catastrophe and its enduring legacy.