The BBC's Jessica Parker visits Pripyat, which was abandoned in 1986 after an explosion at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Photographs from the first days of the Chernobyl disaster and of the aftermath years later show the response, the evacuation and the long-term consequences of the world’s worst nuclear accident.

This Sunday, April 26, marks the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. At 01:23 that morning, while concluding a safety test, reactor number four went into meltdown, triggering a massive steam explosion that sent radioactive fallout across Europe.

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor melted down, but the rest of the world wouldn't learn how close it came to nuclear Armageddon until weeks later.

The nuclear incident at Chernobyl spread radiation across Europe and led to political changes that played a role in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

These 20 pictures capture the aftermath of the infamous 1986 Chernobyl incident—effects that are, in some cases, still felt today.

People streamed into the central square of Slavutych in the early hours of Sunday, placing candles on a large radiation hazard symbol laid out on the ground as a midnight

In the weeks after the April 26, 1986, explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, it was difficult to get any information about the scope of the disaster, aside from terse announcements from the government of the Soviet Union.

Forty years on from the disaster, children affected by the fallout recall respite trips to the UK.

Kyiv says Moscow has repeatedly sent missiles and drones on a flight path near the plant. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.