People Still Live There Illegally

Around 1,200 evacuated persons returned to the exclusion zone in the months following the explosion. Despite the fact that it was unlawful and risky, many returnees decided to do so because they had a strong emotional attachment to their homeland. Because many of these returnees had survived a Stalin-ordered famine and a Nazi onslaught that killed millions of Ukrainians, they were hesitant to leave their childhood homes for an enemy they couldn't see.

These returnees were breaking the law as well as the advice of researchers who assessed the exclusion zone's land, food, animals, and atmosphere to be potentially radioactive. Only about 100 individuals remain today. Due to the deadly amounts of radiation still present, no one else will be able to enter the exclusion zone once these final returnees have died.

Although the vast bulk of the exclusion zone remains free of humans, a few hundred residents have illegally returned. Even after tens of thousands of people were evacuated, some remained. Despite the fact that it is illegal, approximately 130 to 150 individuals still live in the region. Many of the locals are ladies in their 70s and 80s who are still farming their ancestral property. A number of newcomers have arrived just outside the restriction zone.