Chornobyl: News

News Feed

Neighbors from hell — How one Oleshky family survived living next to Russian soldiers

For years, the Samarsky family lived in the embattled, occupied Oleshky alongside neighbors no one wished to have — Russian soldiers. Serhii Samarsky, his wife Olha Liutikova, and their son Vladyslav remained in the town after Russian forces occupied it during the early stages of its full-scale invasion until October 2026, when a humanitarian mission, mediated by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, allowed them to be evacuated. Together, they survived relentless air attacks, cold winters without he

Vladyslav Samarsky at the Ukraine-Belarus border in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, on Oct. 31, 2026.

About Chornobyl

Chornobyl in northern Ukraine is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, which occurred in 1986. The site is approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Kyiv. Russian forces seized the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone on February 24, 2022, occupying the contaminated area until late March 2022 and causing disruptions to radiation monitoring. Ukrainian authorities restored control after Russian troops withdrew in the spring of 2022.

Read more

News Feed