26 April 2008, 09:00
Address of Arseniy Yatseniuk,
Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
to his Compatriots
on Occasion of the 22nd Anniversary of Chornobyl Disaster
On 26 April 1986, the fire of Chornobyl disaster burnt Ukrainian land. The word "Chornobyl" became a token of calamity for millions of citizens, a symbol of considerable material and spiritual losses of Ukrainian society. It would be wrong to state that we lost only financial resources running into billions, since we have countless human casualties. And this is the greatest loss that can not be restored. We should never forget about valour of fire-fighters, military servants, builders, scientists, doctors and other professionals that eliminated consequences of a disaster at Chornobyl Power Plant. Today Ukraine and the entire world community faces a vitally important task, an obligation to those heroes, namely, completion of reconstruction and modernization of a safe object "Ukryttia" at the territory of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
I hope that a horrible lesson that Ukraine and the world learned from Chornobyl disaster will offer an opportunity to develop peaceful atom, which will prevent any disaster similar to the one that happened at the territory of Ukraine and affected a significant part of Europe and the world.