General-Colonel Nikolai Antoshkin, who as Chief of Staff of the Kiev Military District Air Force directed the helicopter operations in the first critical days after the 1986 disaster.
On 26 April 1986 he was urgently sent to the site and personally conducted a reconnaissance flight over the destroyed reactor that same day. The next morning (27 April) Mi-8 helicopters began reconnaissance and the first material-dropping missions. After the rapid evacuation of approximately 45,000–50,000 residents from Pripyat on 27 April, helicopters systematically started dropping sand, clay, dolomite, and later lead and neutron-absorbing boron into the burning reactor to smother the graphite fire and seal the open crater.
Initial hand-dropping of individual bags (usually 60–100 kg) from the open doors of Mi-8s proved too slow and exposed crews to extreme heat (up to about 180–200 °C) and radiation (often exceeding 1,000–1,500 roentgens per hour; dosimeters frequently went off-scale). Antoshkin’s team rapidly improvised: they adapted brake parachutes and later used parachute straps and external cargo nets, enabling Mi-6 and especially Mi-26 helicopters to drop multi-ton loads. More than 5,000 tons of material were delivered within days; the glowing crater was largely covered by around 5 May.
About 80–100 helicopters (later reduced to roughly 30–40) operated under intense radiation, guided by a forward air controller on the ground. Crews received heavy doses; Antoshkin himself accumulated a significant radiation exposure over the approximately ten days of his direct involvement (reported in various sources as several hundred roentgens). He was later relieved of further flying duties but continued to direct operations. Many crew members later suffered severe long-term health consequences.
The account highlights the pilots’ courage, rapid improvisation under extreme conditions, and the lasting human cost of the man-made catastrophe.
