President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko honored the memory of the victims of the Chernobyl accident, the flower-laying ceremony at the memorial to the Heroes of Chernobyl was broadcast  by TV channel 112 Ukraine.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Speaker of the Supreme Council of Ukraine  Andriy Parubiy, Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko, as well as other high-ranking officials of the country took part at the ceremony.

Press-service of the president also reported that Poroshenko intends to visit the station in Chernobyl.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed with a message to the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident.

Chernobyl was a serious lesson for all mankind, and its consequence are still harsh and echoes in nature, and human health. The scale of the tragedy could become immeasurably big, if not unprecedented courage and dedication of the firefighters, military personnel, experts, health care providers, who honorably fulfilled their professional and civic duty. Many of them sacrificed their own lives to save others, the participants of liquidation of consequences of the Chernobyl accident, the Kremlin website published.

The Chernobyl disaster was the largest nuclear accident in the history of the world nuclear power that occurred on 26 April 1986. The nuclear power reactor exploded. A large amount of radioactive substances were released into the environment. Belarus, northern Ukraine, and western Russia mostly suffered from radiation.

The total area of radioactive pollution in Ukraine as a result of the disaster amounted to 50,000 square kilometers in 12 provinces. More than 46,000 square kilometers of the territory of Belarus (23% of total area) have also suffered from radioactive pollution.  By the end of 1986, around 116,000 people from 188 settlements were resettled. 

Within the first three months after accident 31 people were killed, more than 100 people suffered from radiation sickness.