Patriarch Kirill to visit Ukraine to pray for Chornobyl victims

The patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill (Gundyayev), is expected to visit Ukraine in late April for the 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl catastrophe.

He plans to give memorial services in Kyiv and in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, Interfax-Religion reports with reference to the patriarchal press service.

The Chornobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and it is the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

The Chornobyl plant was closed December 15, 2000. However, the sarcophagus built over the power unit that exploded is gradually deteriorating. Ukraine is working on the construction of a new sarcophagus.

Chornobyl is located near the town of Pripyat, 18 km from Chornobyl, 16 km from the border with Belarus and 110 km from Kyiv.