Vilcha, Kyiv Oblast

Vilcha (Ukrainian: Вільча, Russian: Вильча) is a Ukrainian abandoned settlement and former town in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, part of Poliske Raion, Kyiv Oblast.

Vilcha

Вільча
Urban-type settlement
Vilcha Fire Station
Vilcha
Location of Vilcha in Ukraine
Coordinates: 51°21′35″N 29°25′53″E
Country Ukraine
Oblast Kyiv Oblast
Raion Poliske
Founded1926
Elevation
151 m (495 ft)
Population
 (2012)
 • Total3
 (2,200 in 1981)[1]
Postal code
07011
Area code(s)+380 4592

History

The town was founded in 1926 on the site of a settlement named Oleksiivka (Ukrainian: Олексіївка). After the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 45 km far from Vilcha, the town was not included into the "Exclusion Zone" before 1993. During 1993 to 1996, most of the 2,000 residents moved to Kharkiv Oblast, where they founded a New Vilcha (709 km away), few kilometres south of the town of Vovchansk.[2]

The ghost town, today one of the checkpoints to the Exclusion Zone,[3] was resettled by few samosely some years later.[4]

Geography

Located near the borders with Zhytomyr Oblast and the Belarusian Oblast of Gomel, Vilcha is located in the middle of the natural region of Polesia, close to its radioecological reserve. It is 17 km from Poliske, 40 km from Krasiatychi (the raion's administrative seat), 43 km from Pripyat, 44 km from Ovruch and 95 km from Slavutych.[5]

Transport

The town is crossed in the middle by the regional highway P02 Ovruch-Kyiv (150 km south), and is the southern end of the T1035 road from Oleksandrivka, Naroulia District, in Belarus, that continues as P37 highway to Naroulia and Mazyr (95 km north). It also has a railway station, officially in service but without passenger traffic, on the Chernihiv–Ovruch line.[4][5]

  • A rail track nearby Vilcha station
  • Friendship monument at the Belarusian border
  • An abandoned house, hidden by vegetation

See also

References
  1. "UkrMap.Net :: Топографическая карта Украины. Лист: M-35-023 | Topographic Map M-35-23, 1981 edition". ukrmap.net. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  2. (in Ukrainian) "The anniversary of the Chernobyl accident: "live" and "dead" villages of Vilcha"
  3. "Securing the Chornobyl exclusion zone against illegal movement of radioactive materials" (IRPA)
  4. "Radioactive Railroad - A journey through the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone". radioactiverailroad.com. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  5. 337509100 Vilcha on OpenStreetMap

Media related to Vilcha at Wikimedia Commons

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