 igor fedorovich kostin (born 27 december 1936 in bessarabia, greater romania) was one of the five photographers in the world to take pictures of the chernobyl nuclear disaster near pripyat in ukraine, on 26 april 1986. he was working for novosti press agency (apn) as a photographer in kiev, ukraine, when he represented novosti to cover the nuclear accident in chernobyl. kostinâ²s aerial view of the chernobyl nuclear power plant was widely published around the world, showing the extent of the devastation, and triggering fear throughout the world of radioactivity contamination the accident caused, when the soviet media was working to censor information regarding the accident, releasing limited information regarding the accident on 28 april 1986, until the soviet unionâ²s collapse in 1991. he had captured the ongoing problems with contamination suffered by human beings and animals. his photos reportedly include those of the many animals born with deformities in the chernobyl area, when has returned many times to the zone of alienation to bring the problems to the attention of the world. his efforts have exposed him to five times the acceptable level of radiation , and he is now suffering from illness related to this. he resides in kiev at present day, and is married to alla kostin. ==early life and conscription== kostin was born in bessarabia, in greater romania (present day in moldova), on 27 december 1936, three years before his father, fÃ©odor kostin, an economist working in a bank, was sent to fight the war for the newly created moldavian ssr, after greater romania was forced to cede bessarabia to the soviet union under the molotov-ribbentrop pact. before the cession, the kostin family relocated to kishinev, moldavian assr (present day the capital city of moldova, chiÅinÄu). they subsequently resided in the suburb of kishinev for the next thirty-two years, when his father was sent to the war. from june 1941 onward, under german and romanian occupation, kostin was forced to feed on leftovers disposed by the germans and better off moldavians with his mother, nadejda popovitch, since his father was the sole breadwinner in the family, and there was widespread famine during the occupation. he and his mother frequently transported food such as borscht illegally to the german concentration camps around kishinev for the soviet prisoners of war. it was later revealed by kostin in his photographic book  that his mother hoped to find his father in the camps, only to realise later that his father 
1936_births Chernobyl_liquidators Living_people People_associated_with_the_Chernobyl_disaster People_from_Bessarabia Soviet_photographers Ukrainian_photographers