Global General

Ukraine thanks Cuba for helping Chernobyl victims

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-24 13:14

HAVANA- Ukraine thanked Cuba for 20 years of medical assistance to about 26,000 children victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishenko said here on Thursday.

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"We will never forget what Cuba has done for us," Grishenko said while visiting the residential complex "Tarara," east of Havana, where the Ukrainian victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have received medical treatment for 20 years.

The assistance program began in 1990. Although the 1990s was the most critical period for the Cuban economy, Cuba covered the costs for the treatment.

In 1998, Ukraine started to pay the airfare and salaries of the Ukrainian teachers and provide guidance in "Tarara."

About 80 percent of the children victims arrived from Ukraine while the rest came from the former Soviet republics of Russia, Belarus and Moldova.

The children, aged between eight and 15, have different diseases including thyroid and skin cancers, leukemia, alopecia, psoriasis and other physical and psychological problems.

Cuba and Ukraine established diplomatic relations after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.