Ukraine remembers in prayers Chornobyl veterans
Today Ukraine remembers one of the largest man-made disasters in the world - the Chornobyl accident. Sorrowful events dedicated to the commemoration of the deceased and injured liquidators were held in each locality.
In Kyiv, representatives of churches attended the public ceremony of laying flowers to the monument "To Heroes of Chornobyl".
The ceremony of remebrance of soldiers and heroes of Chornobyl was attended by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groisman, members of the Cabinet of Ministers, MPs, representatives of Kyiv City State Administration, liquidators of the Chornobyl accident, relatives of the fallen heroes of Chornobyl.
According to the press service of the UOC (MP), with the blessing of Metropolitan Onuphriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, attending the memorable was Vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis, Bishop Irpin Klyment, abbot of the church complex of St Michael the Archangel, Archpriest Bohdan Shtym and clergy of the Kyiv diocese.
The participants laid flowers on the mound of memory and observed a minute of silence in memory of liquidators of the Chornobyl accident to the memorial bell at St. Michael's church.
Traditionally, on the night of April 26 a funeral service is performed, which is attended by liquidators of the Chornobyl accident and representatives of NGOs. After its completion, in 1 hour 23 minutes (at a moment when the reactor exploded at Chornobyl Unit 4), memorial Alarm sounds, the number of strokes is equal to the number of years that separate us from that terrible disaster.
According to the press service of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Patriarch Filaret today prayed for the repose of the heroes and victims among the liquidators of the Chornobyl accident. Liturgy was held at St Nicholas church in memory of victims of the Chornobyl disaster (Kyiv, 1Nagornaya street) in the Shevchenko district of Kyiv. The event was attended by clergy of Kyiv and liquidators of the Chornobyl accident.
At the end of the liturgy, Patriarch Filaret celebrated a memorial service for victims of the Chornobyl disaster and blessed the restored monument – the mound and the park in memory of victims of the Chornobyl accident.
More than 10 years ago in Kyiv, an Orthodox Church of St Nicholas was built in memory of victims of the Chornobyl disaster. Now the community of St Nicholas Church undertakes repairs on the slopes of Smorodinsky Descent in Kyi+v National memorial complex to victims of the Chornobyl disaster.
The disaster at Chornobyl, recall, took place April 26, 1986 at 1:23 during the test project №8 turbine generator at Unit №4. Then there was an explosion that completely destroyed the reactor. The building unit, machine room roof partially collapsed. In different rooms and the roof came more than 30 fires.
As a result of the Chornobyl disaster around 5,000 settlements in different countries were contaminated by radioactive nuclides. Of those in Ukraine - 2293 settlements with a population of approximately 2.6 million people.
Currently, all reactors are put out, however, 3.5 thousand people still work at the plant. Nuclear fuel was not unloaded from the reactor, and the situation should be monitored.
In 2017, it is planned to enter the confinement facility into operation and already in 2018 to begin work on dismantling the unstable structures of the "Shelter". According to designers, the new building will solve the problem, at least for a hundred years, although it is planned to eliminate the station in 2065.
