abandoned village of Bober

Bober, an abandoned village near Chernobyl, on the road between Ivankiv and Ovruch, Ukraine, contains little more than the shells of former buildings, including houses, one school and two local government buildings. The ceiling is crumbling in this structure, which appears to have been a grocery store.

Although outside the initial 30 km exclusion zone evacuated after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the village was later deemed contaminated and all the residents were resettled in less radioactive areas. Overall, some 135,000 people were relocated.

Everything with any value has since been stripped from the buildings, including even windows and wiring. Here, paint and plaster peels off the brick walls of a classroom.

The forest is taking over the yards and the roads are slowly disappearing, but the daffodils are still preparing to bloom in former gardens.