By the beginning of June, the thirty-kilometer zone had become a radioactive battlefield encircled by a besieging army. The detritus of combat—abandoned vehicles, wrecked equipment, zigzagging trenches, and massive earthworks—lay everywhere around the plant. But even as dosimetrists in protective suits roamed the open landscape and military helicopters crisscrossed the sky overhead, the banished citizens of Pripyat began trying to return to their homes. Looting was already a problem, and each person had something they needed urgently to retrieve from the city.
