A recent study published in the *Proceedings of the Royal Society B* reveals that the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which has been off-limits to humans for over four decades, now supports a greater diversity of wildlife than any protected nature reserve in northern Ukraine. Researchers deployed 174 camera traps across 60,000 square kilometers between 2020 and 2021, documenting nearly 31,000 animal sightings of 13 mammal species. The exclusion zone alone accounted for 19,832 sightings, representing over 63% of the total, while the nearby Cheremskyi Nature Reserve recorded only one sighting. The study attributes the wildlife abundance to the area's size and strict human access restrictions, which allow species that were locally extinct to return, such as brown bears and Przewalski's horses. The latter, introduced in 1998, have grown from an initial population of 23 to 120 by 2021. However, the ongoing military activity due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine poses new threats to this fragile ecosystem, with fires potentially releasing radioactive particles back into the environment and severely limiting research and monitoring efforts.