Thirty-one years ago this week, the world eyes focused on the Ukrainian city of Chornobyl, where the world's worst nuclear accident was contaminating large swaths of what was then called the Soviet Union. Three years ago, VOA's Steve Herman visited the area, photographing monuments and artifacts near the Chernobyl reactor site.
31 Years Later, Chernobyl Disaster Remembered

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visit the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, marking the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, April 26, 2017.

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Widows of Chernobyl victims hold portraits of their husbands who died following the clean-up operations for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, at Chernobyl's victim monument in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, April 26, 2017.

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Demonstrators march marking the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in Minsk, Belarus, April 26, 2017. About 400 people have marched in the capital of Belarus to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and protest the construction of a nuclear plant in Belarus.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko visit the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 26, 2017. April 26 marks the 31st anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.