Every year, a week after Easter, Ukrainians celebrate the Remembrance Days. They pay their respects at the graves of their loved ones, and reunite with friends and families at cemeteries all over this country of 46 million people.
In the far north, near the border of Belarus, these days are particularly poignant - thanks to a much more recent tradition. The Ukrainian government grants permission to the former inhabitants of the abandoned villages of Chernobyl's exclusion zone to revisit the graves of deceased relatives and friends. But they also take this opportunity to revisit the ruins they still call home, travelling as far as 250 miles to reunite with people who used to walk the same streets, browse the same stores - people they used to call neighbors.
I was guided through this wilderness of broken dreams. I visited the villages, the homes, the places where these people used to work, witnessing the fragments left over from the lives they used to lead, and listening to memories so vividly recalled that I could almost smell the fruit from the withered apple trees that once flourished. I walked with one family who returned to an overgrown scrap of land that was once a meticulously maintained garden. They came to rescue a small cherry tree they are going to plant at their father's grave in the village where they relocated.
A young couple walked to the river's edge and remembered the summer days when they swam in the river as children. And I will never forget the man who entered what remained of his home and instinctively began to lock the windows, even though the glass was long gone.
For the people from villages such as Ilovnitsa, Paryshiv, Korogod or city of Chernobyl, it's a heart-breaking ritual - a day to remember the place that used to be their home in a region that was said to be too beautiful to locate the power station that was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April of 1986.
Homesick for Chernobyl
Fedir Romanenko lights a cigarette in his decaying home in the abandoned village of Ilovnitsa.
Lyudmyla Kulagina visits her home in the abanodoned village of Ilovnitsa.
Ivan Belchenko and Fedir Romanenko former neighbours are seen in abandoned village of Ilovnitsa.
Ivan Maksimenko is seen visiting his garage in Ilovnitsa - abandoned village in Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Ivan used to be a driver at Chernobyl nuclear power plant before the evacuation. He was moved to Cherkasy, where he lives now.
Ivan Maksimenko is seen visiting his house in Ilovnitsa - abandoned village in Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Ivan used to be a driver at Chernobyl nuclear power plant before the evacuation. He was moved to Cherkasy, where he lives now.
A family is seen leaving the abondoned village of Ilovnitsa in their Lada.
An abondoned house in the city of Chernobyl.
An abondoned house in the city of Chernobyl.
Hanna Besnuschenko is seen in her house in Parishiv village in the abondoned zone accompaigned by her former nieghbour.
A cross in the graveyard of Paryshiv village.
Ludmila, Tetyana, Maryna and Svyatoslav are seen praying in St. Elias church oin Chernobyl. They live 300km away from the forbidden zone. 
Anastasiya Patukh is seen near the grave of her sister in the graveyard in Paryshiv - half abondoned village inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Now she lives in Kovaln village.
Anastasiya Patukh is seen in front of her house in Paryshiv - half abondoned village inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Now she lives in Kovaln village.
Natalya Mazurova and Galyna Bondar are seen walking the street of Paryshiv. Natalya have never lived in this region. They met in Obhukiv where Galyna's family was evacuated to. 26 years after the evacuation Galyna took her friend to her home in the abondoned village of Paryshiv.
Petro Sakhanda is seen near the grave of his parents in Paryshiv - half abondoned vilage inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
Anatoliy Bondar a former director of a school in Paryshiv is seen visiting its demolished building. 
Anatoliy Bondar a former director of a school in Paryshiv is seen visiting its demolished building. 
Petro Sakhanda is seen through the window of his abondoned huse in Paryshiv - vilage inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
Jevdokiya Vaschenko, Iryna Tolstika, Mykharlo Tolstika and Ganna Urupa are seen looking at Prypiat river. They used to spend most of their summer time here. 
Ganna Urupa is seen leaving her house in Paryshiv village. Right after she said she will never go back there again as the decay breaks her heart.
Lyubov Rusak is seen in her abandoned house in Korogod village inside the exclusion zone. 
Grygoriy Rusak is taking a picture of his brother Mykhailo Rusak seating on a chair which was taken out from their house on the street of Korogod village. They live in Kiev now.
Ivan Maksimenko is seen while digging out a cherry bird tree in front of his house in Ilovnitsa - abandoned village in Chernobyl's exclusion zone. His mother wants to plant the tree on her husband's grave in Cherkasy. Ivan used to be a driver at Chernobyl nuclear power plant before the evacuation. He was [READ MORE]$('#captionMore67866de2b4a71').tipsy({html:true, fallback:
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An abandoned house in Korogod village inside the exclusion zone.
Olga Boyarska is seen climbing her demolished house in Korogod village, inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
Nina Belenok is seen leaving her abandoned house in Paryshiv village, in the Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
Petro Sakhanda is seen in his abondoned house in Paryshiv - vilage inside the Chernobyl's exclusion zone.
Volodymyr Shkurotenko touches a cross before leaving the graveyard in Ilovnitsa, an abandoned village inside Chernobyl's exclusion zone. Shkurotenko was a policeman before the evacuation that followed the meltdown. 
Mykola Khrusch and Mariya Khrusch are seen leaving their village of Korogod on the bus rented by former inhabitants of this abandoned village.