Ukraine marks 33rd anniversary of Chernobyl disaster

Xinhua | Updated: 2019-04-27 00:14

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Widows of Chernobyl victims hold portraits of their husbands who died following the clean-up operations for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, at Chernobyl's victim monument in Ukraine's capital Kiev, April 26, 2019. [Photo/IC]

KIEV -- Ukraine on Friday marked the 33rd anniversary of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP), when a combination of human errors and negligence caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in human history.

On April 26, 1986, a series of explosions ripped through the No 4 reactor at the Chernobyl NPP, some 110 km north of Kiev, spreading radiation across Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and other European countries.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the whole world still remembers the tragedy 33 years after the disaster.

"We are remembering," Poroshenko tweeted.

A woman holds a photograph of her husband who died following the clean-up operations for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion, at the Chernobyl's victim monument in Ukraine's capital Kiev, April 26, 2019. [Photo/IC]

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman paid tribute to people involved in clean-up works at the Chernobyl plant and around it after the disaster.

"You have managed to localize the accident and save hundreds of thousands of lives. We cherish the memory of the deceased heroes and wish good health to those alive," Groysman wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that humanity should learn Chernobyl lessons.

"The pain of Chernobyl must unite the efforts of the whole world in order to prevent a repeat of a terrible catastrophe," Turchynov said in a statement.