Satellite images show evidence that between July and October 2020 the Pripyat, one of Europe’s most pristine rivers, has been dredged at at least seven sites in Ukraine. All of them lie within the Chernobyl exclusion zone – the most contaminated area of the world. Five sites are even located within a distance of ten kilometres to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The purpose of the dredging works was to deepen the river beds to a navigable depth of 1.6 metres and width of 35 metres.