On Saturday, 5 April 2025, three weeks prior to the 39th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the GDIP employees in cooperation with the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management organised this year’s first official visit to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) for the representatives of the diplomatic corps.
The official delegation included the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Albania, Ernal Filo, and Serbia, Andon Sapundzi, as well as staff members of the Embassies of Denmark, Lithuania, Sweden and Switzerland.
26 April 1986 will forever be remembered as the day of one of the largest man-made disasters, which entailed severe consequences in the social, humanitarian, medical and economic dimensions. The explosion at the fourth power unit of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant resulted in the release of huge amounts of radioactive substances into the atmosphere. The radioactive cloud, picked up by the wind, spread far beyond Ukraine — to Austria, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and later to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Ukraine and its neighbouring countries suffered the most: more than 8.5 million people were exposed to radiation within the first few days after the accident. This tragedy, which shook the world more than three decades ago, irreversibly changed the fate of thousands of families.
During the visit, the representatives of diplomatic missions paid tribute to the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management employees fallen in the ongoing russian-Ukrainian war, and the liquidators of the 1986 disaster by laying flowers at memorials.
Accompanied by Oksana Pyshna, Lead Engineer for Civil Protection and Fire Safety at State Specialised Enterprise ‘Central Service Enterprise for Exploitation, Restoration and Safety’, the delegation began their visit with the Duga over-the-horizon radar, once used to detect intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Later, the distinguished guests visited the Star of Wormwood memorial complex in Chornobyl, viewed its elements, enjoyed the scenery of the Chornobyl Bay, and walked the streets of the abandoned city of Pripyat. During their stay in the exclusion zone, the delegates also encountered some of its remarkable wildlife, including a roe deer and the Przewalski’s horses — a subspecies of wild horse known to carry high levels of radiation in their bodies, though this does not affect their survival or population growth.
The trip’s highlight was a visit to the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the heart of the exclusion zone. Oleksandr Titarchuk, Chief Engineer of the Chornobyl NPP, welcomed the guests on behalf of the plant’s management and invited them to explore the facility’s key sites. The diplomats visited the observation platform of the Shelter Structure, the Administrative and Household Facility No. 1, the Unit 3 control room, and the memorial plaque dedicated to the first casualty of the accident — Valerii Khodemchuk, senior operator of the hydro-circulation pumps.
The diplomats were deeply moved by the stories shared by Nadiia Mudryk-Mochalova, Head of the Visitor Support Department of the SSE ‘Central Service Enterprise for Exploitation, Restoration and Safety’, who described in detail the acts of vandalism, nuclear terrorism, and reckless actions of russian troops during the occupation in 2022. She spoke about the human losses, material damage amounting to around 100 million euros, and the ongoing efforts to resume the operation of enterprises subordinated to the State Agency for Exclusion Zone Management. The visitors also learned about the consequences of a recent russian drone attack on the newly constructed confinement structure over the fourth unit.
The visit to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and the nuclear power plant, as well as gaining insights into the lesser-known aspects of the 1986 disaster, left a lasting impression on every diplomat, forever changing their perception of the events and the scale of the catastrophe.
At the conclusion of the visit, each participant expressed their sincere gratitude to the Directorate-General for Rendering Services to Diplomatic Missions and its Director-General Pavlo Kryvonos; to the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management and its Chairman Hryhorii Ishchenko; and to Chornobyl NPP represented by Acting Director-General Serhii Martynov, for the high level of the visit’s organisation and impeccable professionalism.
For more information about tours, please contact Romana Kasiianchuk, an employee of the Media Center Directorate, via email at skt.gdip@gmail.com or by phone at +38 097 258 40 19.
