The city, Chernobyl-2 is located northwest of the small town of Chernobyl in Polissia region of Ukraine, but it is impossible to find on any topographical map. Exploring the maps, you are likely to find a symbol for a children’s boarding house, or a dotted line of forest roads on a place of accommodation of the town, but no reference to urban and technical buildings. In the USSR, they were able to hide a secret, even more so if it was a military secret.

Only due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant did it become known of the existence of a small town (military garrison) in the Polissia woods which was engaged in “space espionage.” In the 1970s, there were created unique military radar systems to track ballistic missile launches from the territories (or military bases and submarines) of the likely opponent. The created radar system was named “Over-the-horizon radar station” (Duga-1). With its enormous size and receiving antenna masts, Duga-1 demanded a large human resource – approximately 1,000 people worked on the military alert status at the site. For the militiamen and their families, a small town with one street was built, named Kurchatov.

The decision to create the “Over-the-horizon radar station” (Duga-1) (near the Chernobyl) was made under government orders dated January 18, 1972 and April 14, 1975
By 1976, the main radar site Chernobyl-2 was built. The general designer of the radar station in Chernobyl-2 was the Research Institute for long-distance radio communication (NIIDAR). Chief Designer and inspiration of the ideas for Duga-1 was Franz Kuzminsky.

After the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the radar was removed from alert status, and equipment was disabled. Military and civilians were evacuated from the zone of radioactive contamination. When the USSR and the military leadership had understood the extent of environmental disaster, it was decided (in 1987) to export the valuable equipment and systems to the city of Komsomolsk.
So, the unique facility providing a space shield over the Soviet state ceased operation, and the city and urban infrastructure has been neglected and abandoned.