Today, December 14, Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance for the participants in the cleanup of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. On this day in 1986, construction of the sarcophagus over the destroyed fourth power unit of the plant was completed.
The day honors hundreds of thousands of people who took part in eliminating the consequences of the world’s largest man-made disaster. According to official data, about 10% of the liquidators died, while 165,000 became disabled, and many later developed cancer and other serious illnesses.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, during the Soviet occupation of Ukraine, when environmental safety was systematically ignored. The explosion at the fourth power unit caused widespread radioactive contamination of parts of Ukraine, Belarus, and several European countries.
Unfortunately, the radioactive threat has not disappeared. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian forces seized the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — the largest nuclear facility in Europe. In April 2022, Ukraine’s Defense Forces liberated the Chernobyl plant, but the Zaporizhzhia NPP remains under the control of the Russian aggressor, whose actions continue to pose a nuclear threat to humanity.
The memory of 1986 and of the people who fought the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster at the cost of their own health and lives remains an essential part of Ukraine’s national memory.