Ukraine Holds Ceremonies Marking Anniversary Of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Ukrainian Ecology Minister Ruslan Strilets (center, wearing glasses) and other officials attend a memorial ceremony at the Chernobyl power plant on April 26 to mark the 37th anniversary of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident.

The decommissioned plant was occupied by invading Russian forces for more than a month before they withdrew at the end of March 2022.

A worker from the Chernobyl power plant places a candle at a memorial in Slavutych, Ukraine, dedicated to firefighters and workers who died in the 1986 nuclear disaster.
 

Chernobyl staff hold candles at the memorial in Slavutych. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, 31 people lost their lives, but it's estimated that tens of thousands of people have ultimately died of radiation-related illnesses.

As a bell rang at the site of the vigil in Slavutych, people laid flowers and touched the faces of the fallen.

 

An aerial view of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in May 1986 shows the aftermath of the catastrophic explosion that spewed radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. The toxicity of the radioactive cloud was equivalent to 400 Hiroshima atomic explosions.

Soldiers from Kyrgyzstan's National Guard carry wreaths during a ceremony at the monument to fallen Chernobyl liquidators in Bishkek.

Soviet authorities sent thousands of poorly equipped personnel called liquidators to clean up the ejected radioactive material. Many of them died as a result of their work often, suffering from various forms of cancer.

A former liquidator touches the monument to his fallen comrades in the Kyrgyz capital on April 26.

A Kyrgyz woman bows at the monument for the fallen liquidators in Bishkek.

In the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, cadets attend a ceremony for those killed in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

A man cleans a plaque at the Chernobyl memorial in Kyiv that contains the names of those who died in the disaster.

A woman touches the name of a Chernobyl victim at the Kyiv monument.

Another woman lays flowers at the memorial in Kyiv honoring those who died trying to clean up the radioactive debris from the Chernobyl accident.

More ceremonies and vigils will be held throughout the day and evening.