Ukraine is home to a dark tourism hotspot that draws in crowds eager to explore the site of a famous nuclear disaster that turned it into a wasteland.

       Chernobyl has become a popular destination for those morbidly curious about the events of the 1986 nuclear meltdown and what followed.

       Before the war in Ukraine, visitors would travel from all other the world to take tours around the deserted city, with many influenced by the hit HBO show Chernobyl.

       After its release in 2019, record numbers of tourists came to explore the exclusion zone around the abandoned city of Pripyat, which used to be home to the nuclear plant's workers.

       Volodymyr Zelensky even signed a decree planning new land, water and air routes, museums, and a modern hotel in anticipation of up to one million tourists a year by 2025.

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       Prior to Vladimir Putin's invasion at the start oif 2022, tours of Chernobyl are extremely popular and have been attended by international organisations, volunteers, diplomats, people involved in reconstruction efforts, as well as members of the public.

       The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Chernivtsi and against all travel to the rest of Ukraine.

       Despite this, the tours are up and running again following the start of the war which saw the city transformed into the frontline for a while as Russian troops occupied the exclusion zone.

       During this time, infrastructure was destroyed and trenches were dug in the radioactive dirt in the Red Forest, famous for its trees that turned rust-coloured after being contaminated by the nuclear fallout.

       One person who has not been deterred by the ongoing war is French student Jean-Baptiste Laborde, who followed the tour route of Chernobyl with guide Svitozar Moiseiv.

       Laborde told CNN: "I’ve been following events since the war began, so I wanted to see for myself what happened there, the destructions, the Russian occupation."

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       While Moiseiv acknowledged the importance of these tours in raising awareness of the events of the Chernobyl disaster and the ongoing war with Russia, he finds doing them "extremely unpleasant and difficult" to do.

       He also told the outlet: "Frankly speaking, it is extremely unpleasant and difficult for me to actually be here every time I come here. Because, relatively speaking, we are moving through an endless cemetery.

       "[But] such tours are especially needed so that Europe and the whole world can help us more now so that we can survive this cruel and absolutely inhuman struggle."

       A one-day Chernobyl tour from an official tour guide company costs around ￡100 but getting there has become very tricky due to the Russia-Ukraine war, as flights are restricted due to closed airspace over Ukraine.