On Saturday, 20 September 2025, as part of Civil Society Week, the GDIP team, in cooperation with the staff of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAUEZM), organised the third official familiarisation visit of the diplomatic corps to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone this year.
The official delegation included the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Austria (Robert Müller), Azerbaijan (Seymur Mardaliyev), Pakistan (Kanwar Ahmed Khan), Slovenia (Mateja Prevolšek), the Chargé d’Affaires of Switzerland Philipp Strub, as well as representatives of the Embassies of Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Slovenia, and Türkiye.
As part of the event, diplomats honoured the memory of 31 soldiers and 11 civilian employees of the SAUEZM who have fallen in the current russian-Ukrainian war with a moment of silence and the laying of flowers.
During the visit, the diplomats viewed the Memories of the Native Land exhibition, which presents the history and ethnography of the pre-accident Chornobyl Polissia region.
A key part of the programme was the visit to the State Specialised Enterprise ‘Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant’ (ChNPP) — the heart of the Exclusion Zone. The delegates followed a unique route — the ‘golden’ corridor, passing the Unit 3 Main Control Room, the Central Control Room, and finally reaching the space beneath the arch of the New Safe Confinement (NSC).
While at the plant, Deputy Head of SAUEZM Oleksii Budyk and Deputy Technical Director of ChNPP Serhii Kondratenko briefed the distinguished guests on the activities and current state of both enterprises, the uniqueness of NSC’s operation, measures taken to restore its functions after the strike of a russian drone, as well as steps to transform ChNPP into a safe, environment-friendly system. The diplomats followed the presentations with great attention and expressed sincere interest in issues of nuclear safety and the plant’s areas of activity.
As part of the programme, the diplomats visited the town of Chornobyl, stopped at the Star of Wormwood Memorial Complex, admired the autumn scenery of the Chornobyl Bay, and, guided by SAUEZM officer Anton Yukhymenko, walked through the abandoned city of Prypiat, hearing the stories of its past and the key locations within the Exclusion Zone.
The diplomats were deeply moved by the stories shared by Nadiia Mudryk-Mochalova, Head of the Visitor Support Department of the SSE ‘Central Service Enterprise for Exploitation, Restoration and Safety’. She described the acts of vandalism, nuclear terrorism, and reckless behaviour of russian troops during the 2022 occupation of the Exclusion Zone, as well as the recovery of the enterprises subordinated to SAUEZM.
The visit to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, enriched with new facts about the largest man-made disaster in human history, left a strong impression on the diplomats and became a turning point in their perception of events.
At the conclusion, the participants expressed their sincere gratitude to the State Enterprise ‘Directorate-General for Rendering Services to Diplomatic Missions’ under the leadership of Director-General Pavlo Kryvonos, the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management represented by Acting Head Volodymyr Feshchenko, and the State Specialised Enterprise ‘Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant’ headed by Acting Director-General Denys Khomenko for the high level of organisation of the visit and their impeccable professionalism.
