Chernobyl. Miners. Undermining the reactor. July. 1986.

[@scottfleming6166]

Some of the toughest, bravest men to ever walk on Earth

[@ionutadriann55]

Underground*

[@camper1749]

@@ionutadriann55 Shit attempt at a joke.

[@ionutadriann55]

@@camper1749 yep. Tried my best ): i failed.

[@camper1749]

I'm sure you'll get it one day Oskar.

[@ionutadriann55]

@@camper1749 I hope so, mate!

[@LPrussia07]

3:11 - is it hard? *men covered in sweat and radioactive dust* - Not quite, we`re doing our best, it has to be done. Sometimes I forget how hardcore soviet citizens were.

[@benedictodunsky2790]

Man... Compared to them Im nothing Srsly

[@Truth.is.out.there3200]

If (IF) it had burned through the bottom floor these guys saved 10,000,000 people’s lives and save Russia from being a radioactive dump for 100+ years. IT HAD TO BE DONE. THESE GUYS ARE ALL HEROS. ALL OF THEM. ALL OF THEM.

[@WeeJoe76]

Pablo Shut If it happened Pablo you’d do the same for the greater good.....that would be something I couldn’t have on my conscience, not helping millions of others. My heart goes out to every single one of my fellow man in there......every one a hero! God rest your souls lads.

[@jjrj8568]

If there had been a conventional, non-nuclear WWIII you can bet the USSR would have won it on badassery and hardcorism alone

[@taylorwatson7932]

Hard lives make hard men. I grew up in Coal Country in the United States. Our miners have a similar tough guy attitude.

[@ross1983n]

These men were absolute heroes, who saved Europe from a second more deadly blast. The Russian and Ukrainian governments should finally show some respect for the work they did.

[@cer8145]

They can travel in a public transport for free also goverment pays them every month so... in mother Russia (and Ukraine with Belarus) it's better than nothing

[@chiragraju821]

actually it was more of a nuclear meltdown than a blast. The blast was prevented by the 3 power plant workers: Baranov, Bezpalov and Ananenko wherein they manually emptied the water tank which was supposedly going to cause a thermal blast which would then rupture the other reactors(1,2,3) and they would suffer the same fate as 4. But nevertheless, a nuclear meltdown would be as deadly as the former (radioactive materials reach groundwater and contaminate it)

[@Rainaman-]

Umm no. They sacrificed their lives and health for nothing. Concrete ended up holding. Tunel was not needed in the end.

[@arronroberts4568]

@@chiragraju821 you been watching the series aswell 😂, proper decent ain't it. That's why I'm here lol

[@temporarymomentary]

@@Rainaman- Yes but that western way of thinking. Doing nothing and just waiting. In Soviet Russia, they don't wait and pray for nothing to happen.

[@DerSpielfuehrer]

Stunning quality for 86.

[@SnipeZeroGames]

Your here before the show chernobyl i recommend it to you is on hbo 😃

[@sagarbhabar]

Well 86 wasn't long ago, it is just 33 years ago.

[@camper1749]

@@sagarbhabar1986 was 33 years ago.

[@jjrj8568]

Plenty of great technology in the '80s, just ugly design and bigger

[@sagarbhabar]

Oh yeah 33 years ago my math is weak bro 😂

[@robschannel4512]

These guys were saving the world. No one knew it would not burn threw the reactor floor and they risk there health to save millions. Balls of steel.

[@vide0gameCaster]

I've been watching those kind of video nonstop since I've finished watching the third episode of Chernobyl. What can I say... mad freaking respect for every men and women that worked without stop to avoid a bigger disaster than what they were already dealing with.

[@jomoland]

vide0gameCaster Your not the only one! I knew about Chernobyl from History channel docs and old news clips but the series really opened up my eyes and put a new light on the horrors and effects on the innocent people effected during the first 72hrs and the consequences that have lasted even now during present day!

[@chiragraju821]

same.. I dream of Geiger counter sounds every night

[@patrickt4533]

What woman?

[@daniel_of_jersey4775]

Remember tho, the show made the second explosion seem bigger than it would have really been. Yesit would have been bad but not as bad as the show made it out to be

[@Keribellz]

To those who question the women part, I suppose the medical frontliners do not count for you, huh?

[@TitusFFM]

Im a grown ass man but i can not stop crying watching this. I was 3 years old when this happend. The radioactive cloud reached us in poland a few days later. I hove no words to tell how much respect i have for each and everyone who was there to save us. Those are real heroes for me.

[@dcorbin5779]

Agreed

[@flakeu]

The word ''hero'' is so much overused in our society these days.. these guys tho are real legit heroes who should never be forgotten

[@sergiot1988]

This material deserves one million views. Is better than anything shown in western documentaries I’ve seen and is in excellent quality!

[@aspromonte5179]

Mario S Thats only in the miniseries. Digging the tunnel and area under the reactor was something that needed to be done. They needed that heat sink (exchanger) there just in case the corium made it through all the concrete that was under it. The corium never made its way all the way through the concrete though. It doesn’t take away how heroic and noble what they did was. Also the necessity of the measure as a whole.

[@paranormalshadowssociety7402]

God bless these brave souls. For their selfless contributions, they will go straight to heaven.

[@Tengri30]

If there is heaven. Maybe they join Lenin and drink eternal Kvaz. Don't know. But we can agree, these men and women who risked their lives and died did a fucking big favor for us, they sacrificed their lives to save ours. They are *all* heroes.

[@Freedomfortruth90]

No. No one earns their way go heaven friend

[@NKDuisburg02]

Miners always put their lifes on stake, thats why they are one unit, all brothers, everywhere in the world. Most of the time exploited for the black gold or other materials to make our lifes easier. Always remember the men digging the earth. Glück auf!

[@Mills-jw9nc]

Der steiger kommt

[@cardijey6918]

Glück auf!

[@Beatmyguest001]

Definitely. Respect to miners 👏

[@jonathancooper4914]

25% of them didn’t live to celebrate their 40th birthdays.

[@luciankristov6436]

Jonathan Cooper who wants to be old as fuck anyways?

[@TheBobbyBoucher]

lucian kristov 40 isn’t old as fuck. also people can live well into their 80s perfectly healthy.

[@ericbattista9341]

Nick Player I don’t think he said it wasn’t possible lol

[@BaHaEzZz]

Did that statistic come right off your ass?

[@MostlyHarmless9]

lucian kristov Life is short man 40 is not old at all

[@AdamBorseti]

Imagine being in a cramped, poorly lit, tunnel; breathing in radioactive dust and hot particles..... while just 12 meters above you, 170 tons of radioactive magma was slowly eating through several stories of solid concrete. Then, after all that.... the core ended up burning itself out just as your weeks of grueling labor and requisition of rare, specialized machinery was coming to an end. They never even needed to turn the heat exchanger on. So many men were burned here, and for many of them, their tasks were ultimately unnecessary or in vain. They did it anyway because it was what their country thought was necessary. They didn't ask questions, and they did not hesitate. They did this, and then the state that was supposed to take care of them was dissolved shortly after. It's like being robbed hundreds of dollars, promised by the bank that they'll reemberse you, and then they give you the money in a dead currency.

[@demistr7435]

Its far worse than that.

[@5678sothourn]

Prepare for the worse. It wasn't useless, it was a just in case

[@emersonmatheus8611]

Man, their effort was to save half of Europe, even with little chance of that happening, it's worth it

[@augustgrey001]

Thank you to the hard working men.

[@wraith8323]

We're still wearing the fookin hatz

[@andrewbello9784]

🤣😂

[@ruksarahmed1569]

I find this absolutely heartbreaking to watch. These men saved the world, literally, from a complete nuclear meltdown. ❤️

[@wiretamer5710]

These men are amazing. It does not matter that their work was ultimately redundant. They knew the risks and they did the work. There are no braver people in the history of the world. Its relatively easy to do something incredibly brave on the fly, it is a huge deal to work for days in an environment that could easily kill you or at least permanently ruin your health. What DOES matter is that these men were put through this hell because the knowledge essential to designing the liquidation campaign was classified by an over secretive government. The fact remains that no melt down has ever reached a water table that feeds a major river system. People can laugh at contemporary estimates that a ground water steam explosion could have wiped out half of Europe, but the fact remains that the level of contamination from the second explosion was already so disastrous across ALL of Europe, half of Europe rendered uninhabitable seems quite plausible. Either way, the effect on the entire world would have been the same. Half of Europe ends up being inside the exclusion zone. The situation at ground zero would have been a lot worse with a critically contaminated zone many times larger requiring a clean up effort many times longer, directly involving millions of liquidators, and refugees in the hundreds of millions. The world would be a VERY different place today if that third explosion had happened.

[@juniorballs6025]

Heroes. The work wasn't necessarily wasted. The consequences had the fuel burnt down would have been disastrous - they (the world really) could not afford not to take countermeasures.

[@specialed4564]

R.I.P to all the brave workers who lost their lives doing what they did to stop another explosion

[@roybm3124]

Damm what a heroes these man! 24h shifts insane.

[@panyiryna9333]

Each shift lasted 3 hours, then there was rotation. They worked round the clock. The goal was to make 13 meters of the tunnel each 24 hours.

[@HarryLivestream]

I think we all have the greatest respect for this guys, thank you!

It wasnt useless. These guys are real heroes.

[@851995STARGATE]

He's not wrong, if never got close to burning through so the cooling jacket was unnecessary

[@al69420]

"We need you to dig underneath a burning chernobyl, we are unsure if or when it could collapse on you, pay is $2/hour and you'll need to work 16 hours per day" these guys badass.

[@TheMaggots]

Actions like these are what makes me proud of being human . If we all came together like we do during emergencies and tragedies the world would be a better place.

[@nathanwilson3185]

This is a powerful video. Small and strong men, from a big and powerful country, doing something no one had ever had to do. The translation made me relate much more to them as humans knowing how they speak, seeing them share drinks and encourage each other to work harder. For their country.

[@plaguex1]

Absolute heros. Thank you from the USA

[@heldersilva6672]

To any of these men who may possbly still be alive and reading this: Sir, you have my full respect! I owe You, with all my heart.

[@artyz3242]

Ive got obsessed with chernobyl and pripyat.. What a great disaster but still there was these amazing and brave peoples who did what had to be done and some of them gave them lives for motherland!

[@seho8722]

This is BS!!! They were drunk and naked! Just watch HBO!

[@xwing1977]

These guys, the firefighters, the army personnel and any of the other people that risked (and gave) their lives to clean up this mess - they are REAL superheroes - superhuman's sacrificing everything to ensure the safety of millions across an entire continent. Our debt of gratitude to these heroes is un-measurable.....

[@jangeertbruggink5044]

The work was definitely not useless. The chance existed of melting through and this action dramatically diminished these odds.

[@jonasandersson6769]

True heroes! :(

[@jackal3311]

Thank you

[@keld_rhygar]

"Come on work! You're being filmed." The fat know-nothing bureaucrat sycophant sitting in his executive chair with an overpriced cigar in his dirty lying mouth has no right to judge these brave, hardworking, herculean men. The work they did may have ultimately been in vain, but it was still done to mitigate great risk. Hats off to them.

[@cherrybopbop]

They were true hero’s. Just sad that, as quoted, ‘the meltdown never happened and their work was useless’ terrible disaster

[@EATSLEEPDRIVE2002]

“What? We’re still wearing the fuckin hats.“

[@cglees]

Thank you to all of these brave men, believed at the time they were saving all of Europe from disaster and risked their lives, totally selfless heroes that’s the important part.

[@levan_didebulidze]

They are heroes!!!

[@HamburgerAmy]

i am not religious, but god bless each and every one of those men. they saved millions.

[@Marija-dx4vz]

God bless them and their families,and every child born after them..Kingdom of Heaven is not big enough!Andjeli ruski,braco nasa pravoslavna,srpska srca kucaju za vas!The West must see what kind of men Russian Ortodox brothers are!

[@ronrontall6370]

They all knew very well that it was very dangerous. It was 1986 and all people knew about the radiation and its effect.

[@Marauder623]

To say that the miner's work was useless isn't entirely true, because uf that corium burnt through the concrete and it wasn't there, Russia and Ukraine would be in a whole world of shit. Regardless of the fact that it never happened, their wirk potentially saved countless lives.

[@DJSkittles365]

The black sea and the surrounding countries that are around the sea would've been in a worst state.

[@aspromonte5179]

It kills me that so many people watch a fictional, Sensationalized, and inaccurate HBO mini-series and believe they are historians. Granted it was excellent and highly entertaining, I didn’t fool myself into believing that watching it was a documentary.

[@Beticzzz]

Тяжелейший труд, слава героям .

[@kvaga9518]

Betz Героям слава!

[@Diesel2499]

@@kvaga9518 потроль тут

[@Svip_dk]

Amazing young people , thx again TS

[@nicostenfors5690]

I love theese videos keep em coming

[@Ameerah.G]

I don't think it's fair to say their work was useless. It was to avoid a worst case scenario. Thankfully it didn't happen.

[@johnchainsman]

The true meaning was lost in translation.

[@retardinhojunior6546]

@@johnchainsman Starodumoff said miners labour was worthless. Despite being inaccurate translation isn't misleading.

[@Dimovuha222]

It was something that Legasov was criticized for IRL, because all fuel tanks were already empty and there was no danger anymore, but it was only discovered later, so he dis not knew and tried to avoid worst case scenario

[@lordx4641]

@@Dimovuha222 it was because of other scientut like ulyana

[@adriannaada7574]

These men are wonderful wonderful humans great great men !!

[@UserX860]

god bless them and their sacrifices.

[@llzaqwsx]

Thank you for this upload. The true story of the people on the ground should be told by those who absorbed the radiation with their very eyes.

[@AintPopular]

Man we need more of these documetnaries

[@halfpipefreak]

Love this footage man !!

[@ezzz42]

Its a shame it takes a tragedy for men to come together and work there butts off. Its usually a kid in a well or a dog in a drain pipe etc , Lol. But its the same reaction here no labour is shunned every expense is paid no questions asked. Just get it done because it needs to be done. Amazing.

[@Filippirgos]

*RESPECT* 🙌

[@SB-ue1lr]

Respect.

[@infinityTime.]

World will never forget what they did , Hugh Respect.

[@urosmarjanovic663]

As a fellow Slav, did I correctly understand that they were planning to pump liquid nitrogen through those shafts in order to cool down melting core? But it never came to that?

[@seho8722]

YES. EXACTLY!

[@rabmc]

So sad, brave brave men!

[@kostaftp]

Real Heroes

[@Sebie3y]

Brave men indeed

[@leongreguras6110]

1:23:45 - 26.4.1986 HEROES

[@5urg3x]

Why does video taken in 1986 look so good? They must have enhanced it. They did a great job too lol.

[@taiki-kun7229]

This happened because of "lies" and it is heartbreaking.

[@ghostdevill]

Heroes for life!

[@t-reaf2106]

They are a mans of focus, commitment, sheer fucking will

[@ivanerokhin9105]

Хорошие простые люди очередной раз пожертвовали собой за чужие ошибки и чтобы прикрыть чиновничьи задницы. Вечная история этой страны (неважно - России или Украины)

[@-_Hatred_-]

Чтобы прикрыть чиновьичьи зады? А я думал, чтобы спасти людей.

[@bigbaba1111]

We should never complain about our jobs after watching this.

[@tristinkirby]

Shall they not be forgotten

[@jitsak1977]

real hero

[@tessioginestrelli6036]

This is Tula

[@RacingPoint-io8yk]

without those guys , we had a thermonuklear blast there

[@Balafoutre]

Respect!!!

[@cvasile73]

Yet again we owe so much to so few...

[@user-xg8yy7yl1d]

What does that sign with yellow letters say at the beginning? They used it in the tv series too and didn’t translate it either

[@rcl5555]

"Our goal is to make the tunnel 13m (~43 ft) longer each day"

[@someonewhosupportukraine]

comrades our task provide daily advancement of the drift face by 13 meters

[@sajibsjb]

Nothing but respect

[@RobertTheWild1]

"Who's talking to you??"

[@jcmbenard]

Heroes

[@FanimusMaximus]

“We’re still wearing the fucking hats”

[@heliotropezzz333]

I'm glad they filmed this for posterity. He said the work of the miners was useless because the core did not melt down through the concrete below. However I thought the work of the miners was designed to prevent that happening, so if it didn't happen wasn't that a success, and wasn't it due to the work of the miners? Where are they now? How many are still alive? Are the men identified in this video still alive?

[@sparkplug1018]

Apparently there were around 400 working on this task, 100 of them didn't make it. Im sure the rest are probably dead by now too.

[@ZolaPfc_]

How do they walk with that big balls

[@Perkele_Itse]

How long did these men survive after this? I came googling around for the HBO series.

[@Rainaman-]

Many died or have illnesses to this day

[@ct4nk3r]

Almost everyone died before 40yo, its in the series' end

[@urbanridersshow1632]

@@ct4nk3r there was some fake information, so I don't believe this information is true

[@caiuscostencu8886]

@@urbanridersshow1632 They died at about 50-60 years. Others still survive to this day

[@jonlewis6357]

Most died. Consider that they are not only miners, but miners in the Soviet union. Miners in the Soviet union digging under a nuclear reactor. They were not long for this world in even normal circumstances

[@realism4183]

I would’ve gone straight to the airport the minute I saw the flames. Who the fuck actually stays in a situation like that

[@danieljaeger6712]

These are men. Beautiful.

[@sebbr4un624]

Real fighters

[@user-td1le2vs9q]

Они и правда герои!

[@suzydixon4930]

Today, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish this. Too much McDonald’s and stretchy pants to accommodate the weight.

[@viarnay]

worker's paradise

[@PartTimeJedi]

Balls of Steel!

[@elmephisto1847]

Would love to see a team of feminist try this

[@rommeldavy4876]

That's why Nazis failed to conquer soviet union...they were facing these guys...

[@souravmahm]

Their leader in HBO series was so fuckin savage

[@joshuacrasto7938]

Men of Valor Mighty proud

[@clearlydee9257]

And the work of these miners was useless... That's a bummer.

[@emmanuelbetancurzapata3910]

These men are real men.

[@peterhart1966]

Maxie, right? Don't know back story but has to be a re-enactment or part from a movie. Maybe a documentary.

[@robertgolden1080]

Brave men.

[@mandarin1257]

Why are these videos better quality than most cameras these days?

[@ethanfergus1434]

Poor guys

[@Dr.Gunsmith]

One word.........hero’s

[@jackiechan8840]

There work was all for nothing? Poor guys.

[@Tengri30]

Well, in the Soviet Union not everything was about getting paid. They took it as a kind of patriotic duty and contrary to popular belief, they were not forced, they were all volunteers who filed in to save "Rodina mat", the motherland. And I guess some of them even knew that they are saving the planet.

[@thishandharmakeerthi5327]

Did government took care of those brave people and their families after they sacrifice their own life?

[@autopsyjuice6648]

Kinda odd that there is no radioactivity affecting the grain of the picture considering how close they are to the reactor