40 years ago, on April 26, 1986, the world experienced one of the worst man-made disasters in history – the explosion of Reactor No.4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. A tragic event that led to catastrophic consequences.
On February 14, 2025, Ukraine once again received alarming news: Russia attacked the New Safe Confinement of the CNPP with a drone. The strike carved a six-meter hole causing a fire that could have had catastrophic consequences.
One of the first people to learn about the attack was Colonel Serhii Dyshkant, Head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (ДСНС України) in Kyiv Oblast.
"I remember that night very well. At first, I couldn’t believe it – I thought it was disinformation. Because something like that simply could not happen," recalls Colonel Dyshkant.
Son of another responder to the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, Serhii was born three years before the tragic explosion and grew up in a 'post-Chornobyl' world. He held a certificate of a 'child affected by the Chornobyl disaster,' and his village even had an entire district called the 'Chornobyl settlement.'
One day, he would himself be among those responding to another nuclear incident. He could not possibly have imagined it then.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine, 2026 / VLADIMIR REPIK/AFP via Getty Images, 1986
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