The trailer for Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes documents the coverup of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history

Back in 2019, the miniseries Chernobyl aired on HBO, unflinchingly chronicling the horrors of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster through actors and the big budget of cable television. Now, unseen footage taken at the time of the incident combined with in-person interviews has been put together in the trailer for HBO’s newest documentary Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes.

The unnerving documentary’s synopsis reads: “Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to ‘liquidate’ the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century.”

In the trailer for the film, clips of archival footage show the real people unknowingly exposed to radiation from the disaster, as interviewees hauntingly recount how they were not warned of the dire situation. “Nobody was warned by anybody,” says one person. “Schools and kindergartens were open.”

Included in the interviews for Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes are Ihor Hodosov, a miner; Ihor Pismenskiy, a helicopter pilot; Oleksandr Sirota, a 10-year-old schoolboy; Lyudmila Ignatenko, whose husband was a first responder; Nikolai Tarakanov, a Russian general; Oleksiy Breus, a Chernobyl engineer; Ihor Yatskiv and Nikolai Kaplin, liquidators; and Yuri Samoilenko, the former Deputy Chief Engineer of Chernobyl Power Plant.

The documentary is directed and produced by Emmy-winner James Jones (Mosul), with Darren Kemp on as executive producer.

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes premieres June 22 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.