25/04/2026
AUGB BOARD OF DIRECTORS STATEMENT
Chornobyl at 40: Remembrance and Warning
On the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) and the wider Ukrainian community in the UK solemnly honour the memory of the thousands of innocent victims whose lives were lost or irreparably damaged by the Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe. We pay profound tribute to the Chornobyl liquidators whose courage, sacrifice and sense of duty prevented an even greater tragedy from happening.
These were ordinary men and women - firefighters, engineers, soldiers and volunteers - who were sent into and dealt with unimaginable danger, without any knowledge of the risks that they faced. Many paid with their health or their lives. Their sacrifice was not only for Ukraine, but for all of Europe. Today, we remember them with deep gratitude and intend to ensure that their legacy endures.
To mark this anniversary, AUGB branches and communities across the United Kingdom will hold memorial services in towns and cities, bringing people together in remembrance, reflection and solidarity. These commemorations are not only an act of mourning, but are a reaffirmation that the human cost of Chornobyl must never be forgotten.
Forty years on, Chornobyl stands as a warning from history about the ecological and human cost of disregarding nuclear dangers and failing to protect the environment. Sadly, as a direct result of Russia’s ongoing illegal war against Ukraine, the safety of the environment continues to be threatened in acts of ecocide.
The Board of the Association of Ukrainians condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s continued use of missiles and drones across Ukrainian territory, including in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, waterways, agricultural land and critical infrastructure. Such actions are reckless, irresponsible and place millions at risk.
The damage caused by a Russian drone strike in 2025 to the New Safe Confinement at Chornobyl caused a breach, with fires, structural damage and hundreds of openings compromising its integrity and degrading its safety and effectiveness. Russia’s destruction of the Khakovka dam in 2023 caused severe flooding over 40 towns and villages, with drinking water affected for around 700,000 people, massive loss of livestock, degradation of agricultural land and, critically, concerns for the safety of the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Around 23% of Ukraine’s territory is contaminated by landmines, posing grave risks to civilians and affecting huge areas of agricultural land. Experts estimate that it will take a generation to make Ukraine’s land safe.
This is not merely damage to infrastructure. It is the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and the environment and a total disregard for nuclear safety, with potential consequences far beyond Ukraine’s borders. Russia’s actions must be called out for what they are – crimes against humanity and the environment.
The Chornobyl disaster was compounded by secrecy and denial, as the Soviet authorities delayed acknowledgment and obscured its true scale. Only when the consequences spread beyond borders did the wider world begin to grasp the magnitude of what had occurred. Today, we face a different but equally grave danger: the reckless endangerment of nuclear safety, the environment and human lives in full view of the world.
On this solemn anniversary, we stand in unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and call on the international community to respond with clarity and resolve to secure a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine, with peace and security for the whole of Europe.
AUGB Board of Directors
London, 26 April 2026
