{"id":189089,"date":"2026-05-25T18:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/189089\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:07:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:07:48","slug":"cichanouskaja-visits-chernobyl","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/189089\/","title":{"rendered":"Cichano\u016dskaja visits Chernobyl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Opposition politician's press office)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

May 25, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja on Monday visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine and the nearby ghost city of Pripyat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In remarks published by her press office, Cichano\u016dskaja said that remembering the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident is especially important against the backdrop of Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine, occupation of the Chernobyl zone in the first days of its full-scale war and tactic of \u201cnuclear blackmail,\u201d including the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja described her visit to the defunct nuclear plant and Pripyat as a \u201cvery hard and emotional experience.\u201d She said that the nuclear accident is a \u201cshared pain\u201d for the people of Ukraine and Belarus and recalled her own respite trips under European programs for Chernobyl-affected children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, while Russia is waging a war against Ukraine and using nuclear blackmail as an instrument of pressure, Chernobyl reminds us again of how dangerous lies, silence and indifference to human fates can be,\u201d Cichano\u016dskaja was quoted as saying. \u201cThe Belarusians know the price of such disasters, and our country should not be party to nuclear threats or aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja arrived in Kyiv by train on Monday morning at the invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pavie\u0142 \u0141atu\u0161ka, deputy head of the opposition transition cabinet, and Valeryj Mackievi\u010d, a member of the cabinet\u2019s team, accompanied Cichano\u016dskaja as she laid flowers on the grave of Belarusian volunteer Maryjaa Zajcava, who was killed near Bakhmut in southeastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a drive through Kyiv\u2019s Lukianivka neighborhood, severely damaged by a massive Russian attack on May 24, Cichano\u016dskaja commented that \u201cevery such strike reveals once again the true nature of Putin\u2019s regime, which does not recognize human life, nor international law, nor borders.\u201d She said that Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime also bears responsibility for the war because it allowed the use of the Belarusian territory for \u201caggression, for missile launches and the deployment of Russian weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja stressed that the people of Belarus stand with the Ukrainians, supporting them \u201cnot because this is politically correct, but because we feel your pain as our own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reactor exploded at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the early hours of April 26, 1986. Although the plant is located in Ukraine, about 70 percent of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus, heavily contaminating one-fourth of the country, one-fifth of its agricultural land and affecting at least seven million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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