On April 26, 1986, the most serious man-made disaster in the history of civil nuclear energy occurred – at 1 o’clock 23 minutes according to Kyiv time, with a difference of two seconds, two explosions occurred at the fourth reactor of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, as a result of which the total radiation of isotopes released into the air amounted to 50 million curies, which is 30-40 times more than during the explosion of the bomb in Hiroshima in 1945.
In the history of the long-suffering Ukrainian people, there are many mournful dates, the memory of which pierces the heart with acute pain. And one of them was on April 26, 1986, when an ominous fire of a radiation explosion rose into the night sky over the blooming Polissia territory.
The fire of Chornobyl burned the earth and the souls of millions of people, showing that the “peaceful atom” is quite dangerous as nuclear weapons themselves.
For all of us, April 26 is a day of remembrance of the largest man-made disaster and honouring the heroism of the Chornobyl NPP personnel, firefighters, servicemen, builders, scientists, and doctors who participated in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident. In total, more than 600 thousand people took part in the liquidation of the accident, but the exact number of victims and injured is still unknown. Therefore, Chornobyl is not only a great tragedy, but also a symbol of the boundless courage of many thousands of our countrymen.
Each of us should honour this fearless act and courage of the liquidators of the accident. The sacrifice and bravery they demonstrated will never be forgotten and will forever remain in the pages of history.
We gratefully bow our heads before their courage and heroism, before the bright memory of those who, at the cost of their own lives, stopped the element of the atom.
