On the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the international community expressed solidarity with those affected and stressed the need to preserve historical memory. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office compiled a selection of statements from international organizations and media marking this date.
United Nations
“An integrated approach to sustainable development was adopted to address the needs of the affected regions and communities. The agencies, funds and programmes have continued to work closely with the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine to provide development assistance to the Chornobyl-affected communities”.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/Chornobyl-remembrance-day
State Department of the United States
“This catastrophe compelled us and our partners to create stronger international standards and better safety protocols that protect communities worldwide. Nuclear power must remain in responsible hands committed to transparency. The United States is leading the way in ensuring nuclear energy remains safe, secure, and reliable for the future”.
EU Commission’s Directorate-General for EU Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood
“On the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, we commemorate the victims of this tragic disaster. It has had widespread consequences in many parts of Europe, especially Ukraine and Belarus. We continue to honour the past, to safeguard the future”.
https://x.com/eu_enlargement_/status/2048289996268830979?s=20
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
“The catastrophe claimed lives and affected the health and destinies of millions of Belarusian families. The memory of these events remains important to this day”.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CdKzrL1iE/
Jack Twiss, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Lithuania
“A disaster that unveiled — if still needed — the blatant disregard by the Soviet regime for human dignity in its aftermath”.
https://x.com/JackTwiss/status/2048339840815575478?s=20
Asta Andrijauskienė, Chargé d’Affaires of Lithuania
“Eternal memory to the liquidators and to all those who lost their lives and health as a result of the disaster”.
https://x.com/AstaAndr/status/2048371582389682567?s=20
MEDIA
RFE/RL
“Belarus, the country that suffered the worst after Ukraine, had large swaths of its southern regions irradiated, leaving them uninhabitable”.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-zelenskyy-Chornobyl-nuclear-accident/33742727.html
Liberation
Belarusians in exile shared how they experienced the 1986 disaster and how Lukashenka’s authoritarian regime is attempting to downplay its consequences.
Zerkalo
Public figures from Belarus spoke on how the Chornobyl nuclear disaster affected their lives.
https://news.zerkalo.io/life/125080.html
Belsat Agora
“Forty years since the Chornobyl disaster — a tragedy that affected millions and left a deep mark on Belarus and across Europe. Decades later, its consequences remain with us, raising urgent questions about safety and transparency”.
https://belsat.eu/92895510/agara
RTE
A woman born in Belarus after the Chornobyl nuclear accident and raised in an orphanage said that the generosity of Irish people saved her life.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0420/1569048-chornobyl-krystina-nikityonik/
Al Jazeera
“As we mark the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, it is important to reflect on its lasting radioactive legacy, but also on ways to avoid its repetition. In today’s increasingly unstable world, the risks of centralised energy systems have multiplied. At the same time, the alternative has moved from theoretical to proven. The question is whether we choose to keep building systems that amplify risks or commit to investing in systems that reduce them”.
KyivPost
“Initially, after the Chornobyl disaster, unofficial ecological groups emerged, then cultural and religious ones, and eventually more politically oriented patriotic ones. Civil society was born, and the return home of the political prisoners only strengthened it. Their joint implicit slogan of “Never again” as regards Moscow’s control over aspects of Ukrainian life was translated into an irrepressible united demand for freedom and independence”.
https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/74651
BBC
A woman who helped children in Belarus after the world’s worst nuclear disaster at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant 40 years ago recalled how the community came together to support them.
BBC
“Forty years ago, the Chornobyl nuclear disaster shook Europe and affected generations of people living in Ukraine and the surrounding area. For years afterwards, English families stepped in to bring children from the region to the UK for respite holidays”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn086z6rxweo
Pozirk
“The Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant is a ghost of the future”.
https://pozirk.online/en/longreads/184988/
Radio Svaboda & Reform
“Belarusians held the Chornobyl Way march in Vilnius”.
https://t.me/radiosvaboda/86262
https://reform.news/charnobylski-shljah-2026-prohodit-v-vilnjuse-foto
