The plateau of Zabroshchensk is a steppe corner of nature, deprived of vegetation, but rich in deposits of blue clay and red sand. There are many kind of birds and insects, but almost no animals, except for steppe snakes, hedgehogs, lizards.

This desolate place became an excellent area for the construction of a military training ground, where the experimental space-marine landing exercises were to take place. The main task of the main command was to experimentally calculate the types of people who were genetically able to withstand severe overloads, the increase of which occurred within a few seconds.

To do this, in addition to standard military training, experiments were conducted at the training ground. After a long stay in the deep catacombs under the plateau, the soldiers were launched in special capsules into the stratosphere (through a special platform in the center of the plateau). At each stage, the condition of the subject was monitored, and medications were used to enhance endurance, strength, and immunity.

However, in the first year the military training ground suffered serious losses. Reports of the dead rained down, and then the employees simply began to disappear, which suspiciously affected the military reports in a positive way.

To make up for the losses, plenty of volunteers began to be invited to the plateau. People were offered a lot of money for participating in experiments. This caused a large influx of people to the territory of the landfill and the city of Zabroshchensk located on the plateau of the same name.

But the disappearances continued, and the government decided to quickly shut down the experimental space landing program, so as not to draw public

attention to it. The laboratories were sealed, the entrances to the catacombs were hidden from prying eyes. The military withdrew from the plateau, leaving the residents of the city without financial and food supplies.

Zabroshchensk began to empty, holding only those who had nowhere to return. There are rumors that all the missing volunteers are still in the city – their bodies feed the earth and decompose in the deep catacombs under the plateau. But the government no longer cares, because the program was closed without a fuss.

In 1997, two years after the closure of the military program, the city fell into complete economic decline. The civilian population was left without jobs and means of subsistence. Put on the post of mayor of the city, retired lieutenant colonel Nikolai Valerevich Polezhaev wrote an official letter to the capital of the region with a plea to save the remaining population from starvation. To the letter, Polezhaev attached a plan to bring the city out of the crisis. The plan described the construction of a new city-forming enterprise – an automobile plant. The mayor’s proposal was that the remnants of military installations, facilities and equipment would be used for the construction of the plant. Already in the next quarter, the city received a budget for the implementation of the plan.

Today Zabroshchensk is still a leader in the production of the low-end car brand. But the standard of living of the city is far from the expectations of the local population. Desolation and decay have settled here forever.