The number of residents in the exclusion zone is growing

The population in the exclusion zone has grown to 125,000 people over the past two years. This was reported by Deputy Social Policy Minister Darya Marchak in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.

She explained that people move to the radiation contamination zone in order to receive state payments provided for living in this territory.

125 thousand people have settled in the exclusion zone. And these are the people who have moved to the contamination area since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion," Marchak said.

She noted that the state annually spends about 15 billion hryvnias per year on special payments and other assistance to these people. The official stressed that this is a lot and many people "abuse" such opportunities.

Marchak pointed out that the state had decided to cut funding for such payments.

In the draft budget for 2025 there is a restriction: only those who lived in the exclusion zone from 1986 to 1993 will be able to receive additional payments," she warned.

The exclusion zone is located around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP). It covers an area within a radius of about 30 kilometres from the plant.