Ukraine Mourns 21st Anniversary Of Chernobyl

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine mourned the victims of Chernobyl on Thursday, as President Viktor Yushchenko said much relief work remained to be done 21 years after the world's biggest nuclear accident.

People light candles placed in the form radioactive symbol in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, April 26, 2007. Ukraine marked the 21st anniversary of the deadly explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the world's worst nuclear disaster. The April 26, 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant affected about 3.3 million Ukrainians, including 1.5 million children, according to Ukraine's Chernobyl Union report.
The president and his former political ally Yulia Tymoshenko laid flowers to the victims at a solemn overnight ceremony in the capital marking the anniversary of the catastrophe in this ex-Soviet state.

In the town of Slavutich, 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power station and home to many of its former workers, thousands of mourners lit candles and laid flowers at another monument.

"We bow our heads in sorrow before all the heroic rescue workers and the victims of the nuclear disaster that struck our land on April 26, 1986," Yushchenko said in a statement.

"As head of state I insist that all state authorities focus their highest attention on the problems of developing the contaminated territory and people's social rehabilitation," he said.

The president said that compensation and social aid for victims this year would amount to nearly 4.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnias (900 million dollars, 662 million euros).

Ukraine has spent 15 billion dollars over the past 20 years in dealing with the after-effects of the disaster, and expects to spend another 170 billion dollars by 2015.

Radioactive fallout from the accident at the plant affected five million people, including 2.6 million Ukrainians.

Source: France 24