Yuri Andreyev is passionate（有激情的） about farming. He fled（ 逃走） the war in eastern Ukraine after spending 200 days imprisoned（关押） by separatists. He survived and is now recultivating fields near Chernobyl that were exposed（使暴露） to radioactive fallout（辐射微尘）. This was the only place where land was available. Thankfully, there are no mines exploding here. Everyone is safe.

  Chernobyl's reactor（[化工] 反应器） number four went into meltdown（彻底垮台） in 1986, contaminating a huge area. This factory is just 24 kilometers from the site, but for Vladimir Minskuk it offers the hope of a new start. He lost everything in the war. Everyone says, "Oh no, Chernobyl. Radiation（发散）." But before they were firing rockets（火箭）. Slag（矿渣） is a waste material produced by smelting（熔炼） oil that contains minimal（最低的） amounts of metal.

  Extracting（提取） that metal yields（屈服） little profit. But after fleeing the war in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Minskuk and his family were left with nothing. So now he recycles slag on the edge of Chernobyl's exclusion（排除） zone（地区）. I didn't think about radioactivity（放射性） when I first came here. All I cared about was finding a place to live. It was only a year later that I started to wonder.

  So I borrowed a dosimeter from friends and measured the radiation levels over this entire（全部的） area. And I came to the conclusion that it's safe. But this area was exposed to severe（严格的） radioactive fallout（辐射微尘） following the disaster in 1986. Roman（罗马的） is one of three employees now working for Vadim. They all fled the fighting in the Donetsk region and view the risk of exposure（暴露） to radiation（发散） as a lesser evil（邪恶）. I did try going back home once, but there were no jobs.

  I used to work in a coal mine, but the mine had been bombed. The shaft（轴） was flooded and nothing had been rebuilt（重建）. So I had to come back here and ended up staying. Having sorted through the slag during the day, the men are now preparing to extract the metal overnight（一夜）. They heat（使激动） up the furnace（炉子） with gas produced by burning old car tyres. Both the slag and the tyres are waste products that Vadim gets for free.

  That's the only way he can make a profit. Vadim arrived here with nothing and couldn't afford to buy a factory. In the village of Dityatka, near the inner（内部的） exclusion（排除） zone（地区） where no one is allowed to live, he found this place, abandoned（放弃） since the disaster. Still the owner wanted $4,000 for it. Vadim sold his car to raise the money. The first time I saw this place, I thought, "I can't do anything with this."

  Everything was broken, the roof had collapsed（倒塌）, there were no walls, nothing. But my wife came and looked around and said, "I see a factory here." Vadim and his wife ran their own business before the war broke out, with 40 employees. They melted（（使）融化） down metal, produced car batteries and recycled household（家庭） waste. But the war destroyed everything. We were hit by 40 grad rockets and 4 smurch rockets.

  The craters（弹坑） they left were 12 metres wide and 3 metres deep. We took refuge（避难） in a bunker dating（注…日期） back to Soviet times. It was a miracle（奇迹） we survived. That's when we knew we had to leave. They swapped one disaster zone for another. Around 300,000 people were evacuated（疏散） from here after the Chernobyl disaster and resettled（(使)重新定居） elsewhere（在别处）.

  Many went voluntarily. Their former（在前的） villages have since fallen into disrepair. There's no work and no infrastructure（基础设施）. Those who chose to remain long for a return to normality. Yuri Andreyev lives 80 kilometres away from Vadim. He's a farmer and also fled the war in eastern Ukraine.

  In 2015, one year after the war broke out, Yuri stumbled（ 绊倒） on this Soviet era（时代） farm. It too was exposed to radioactive fallout from Chernobyl. There was hardly anything here. Just dilapidated（ 破旧的） buildings, without water or electricity. People tell me that this was once a great farm, with cows, sheep and pigs. The people here were doing really well.

  But Chernobyl ruined（毁灭） everything. When the war broke out, I supported the Ukrainian side. So I was captured（捕获） and held by separatists. Eventually, I managed to buy my freedom（自由）. But in the Luhansk area, where I had my agricultural（ 农业的） business, the fighting was still going on. I had to find a new place.

  The only large sites available for an affordable（负担得起的） price were here, on the edge of the exclusion zone. The collective（集体的） farm, which included numerous（许多的） barns（[农]谷仓） and storage buildings, cost $150,000. Yuri borrowed the money from a friend. Most of his machinery（机械） was destroyed in the war and he still urgently needs new equipment. Just like before the war, Yuri grows sunflowers, corn and other food crops（农作物）, all for Ukrainian customers. But could his grain be contaminated（污染） with radioactive isotopes（同位素） from the soil?

  Absolutely not, he says. All the fields that we've leased（出租） have been examined and are clean. They're not part of the contaminated area. We only plant crops in clean soil. There are places where the radiation measurements（测量） are off the charts. Those places are best avoided.

  Yuri has already taken on 13 employees. Each morning they meet to discuss the day's work. Some of his workers are from the local area. Others have come from Luhansk to escape the fighting, just like Yuri. After a 20-minute chat, the men get down to work. Today we have to repair a tractor and finish clearing the fields.

  If the weather is good tomorrow, we could start recultivating the soil and get it ready for planting. Yuri heads out to check on his sunflowers. He wants to see if they're ready for harvesting. Most of the fields that he leases have not been farmed since 1986. This is my field. It was overgrown（长满） with trees when we arrived.

  Now we have sunflowers growing here. We've reclaimed this field from the forest. There's around 30 hectares（公顷） here. It looked exactly like that forest over there. The whole field had to be cleared. Conditions are currently too cold for the plants, which Yuri grows for their oil.

  The harvest（收获） is going to be later this year. Yuri thinks two more weeks should be enough. That's two more weeks without income（收入）. But he's pleased with the quality of the plants. You'll make us a lot of money. Lack of finances（财政） was something Yuri never had to worry about before the war.

  He was a wealthy（ 富有的） entrepreneur（<法>企业家）. He never thought he would have to start over again from scratch（搔） and be Chernobyl of all places. God gave me my life back and somehow（由于某种原因） led me here. I traveled all over Ukraine, but the only land available for an affordable price was here. It cost Yuri around $1,000 to clear the trees and roots（根） from just one hectare（公顷） of land. He and his workers have reclaimed a total of 860 hectares over the past six years.

  For locals Volodya and Pavlov, it means a lot for them to see the fields finally back in use again. There's no work in our villages. Everyone just gets by as best they can. It's good that Yuri has come. If it weren't for him, we'd have no work. Once a day, Yuri brings his workers a free meal.

  The wages（工资） he pays are above average for Ukraine.