The photographs' authenticity is not challenged, as far as I know.  The narrative into which they have been placed by Elena Filatova has been debunked pretty thoroughly as semi-fictional.  Thus I quote zero text from that site, but only use it as a handy archive of photographs from the Dead Zone and surrounding regions.

If anyone can convincingly debunk a specific photograph I included as faked or wrongly ascribed, then I didn't do enough homework and will have to print a retraction.  I did not include some suspect photos from partisan websites for this very reason.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...