Today, on 26 April 2021, we recall the tragic events of 1986 with a heavy heart. On this spring day, the largest man-made disaster in the history of mankind took place. During the experiment at the 4th reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, two steam explosions occurred. The atmosphere of the Earth was filled with radioactive dust dangerous for human life, and the wind, in turn, carried dangerous radioactive isotopes to the northwest. They settled on the ground and infiltrated the water.
Ukraine ranks first among the former republics of the Soviet Union in terms of the number of victims of this disaster.
According to the definition of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and of the World Health Organization, the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is assessed as the most serious accident ever to occur in the nuclear power industry.
Information about the Chernobyl disaster came under the ideological control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR State Security Committee (KGB). The criminal actions of the Soviet government to conceal information, on the one hand, deepened the irreversible negative consequences of the accident, and on the other hand, resulted in intensification of the national democratic movement, and ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.
After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian community has shown a high civic position and activity in the world. Ukrainians from all corners of the globe organized demonstrations, prepared an appeal to the governments of Western states, collected materials about the tragedy.
We still remember the heroic sacrifice of the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, their lost lives and health.
Memory eternal to those who died, honour to those who are alive!
Photo Credit: Ukrinform, Getty Images