History
Slavutych was named after the Old Slavic name for the Dnieper River. The city was built in 1986 shortly after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to provide homes for those who had worked at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and their families. They were evacuated from the abandoned city of Pripyat. The economic and social situation of the city is still heavily influenced by the power plant and other Chernobyl zone installations. Many of the residents still work in the energy industry in the region.
In an interview with Pravda published on 10 October 1986, Erik Pozdyshev, the newly appointed Director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, officially announced that a new city was to be built. Construction of the town started shortly thereafter, and the first inhabitants settled in October 1988. The city was intended to replace Pripyat which became a ghost town after it was evacuated thirty-six hours after the nuclear disaster due to radioactive material. There is a memorial in Slavutych to remember the victims of the disaster, especially to those who lost their lives immediately after the event from radiation-related diseases.
The city is mostly home to survivors of the disaster who had to be relocated from the evacuation zone around the reactor, among them about 8,000 people who were children when the disaster occurred. Many inhabitants still work at the site of the former plant for monitoring, maintenance or scientific purposes. They commute to the zone on a regular basis. A rail line (twice crossing the international border with Belarus) runs directly from the city to the site of the plant.
Slavutych is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the former plant. The site had to be a reasonable distance away from the Chernobyl zone to ensure the risk of radiation-related illnesses was reduced. However, other factors that contributed to the choosing of the site were the availability of a nearby ready railroad infrastructure, and an accessible water supply from the nearby Dnieper River. To build the city, the ground was covered with a two-meter (6') layer of uncontaminated soil.
It is also the last city to be built by the USSR.
Until 18 July 2020, Slavutych was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast to seven, the city of Slavutych was merged into Vyshhorod Raion.[5][6]
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, due to the siege of Chernihiv by Russian forces, the city of Slavutych was completely isolated from most of Ukraine by late February,[7] leading to shortages of food and medicine.[8] On 26 March 2022, following days of shelling, the Russian troops entered the city, seized a hospital and detained the mayor Yuri Fomichev, while locals took to the streets to protest the occupation.[9][10][11]
Following the persistence of the protests when confronted with flashbang grenades and warning shots, the Russian forces agreed to leave Slavutych and release the mayor on the conditions that the Ukrainian military would not be present in the town and most weapons would be handed over to the mayor.[12]
Following Russia's withdrawal over 5,000 of the city's 24,464 residents fled the city due to fears of another Russian attack on the city.[13] On April 26, 2024, the city hosted a conference on the security situation for the entire Chernobyl exclusion zone and its surrounding areas.[14] The conference was attended by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, interior minister Ihor Klymenko, Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Pivnenko, Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Serhii Deineko, the Head of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv Artem Bondarenko, and Slavutych's mayor Yuriy Fomichev, as well as various other politicians and military officials.[14] On May 29, 2024 Slavutych hosted the "Unbreakable Ukraine" interregional forum with the "Mayors for Economic Growth" demonstrating how the city dealt with the exodus of its population, and how the city's economy has rebounded, as a model for other cities in the region facing similar difficulties.[15]
