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Ukraine’s total economic losses from Chernobyl nuclear disaster amounted to $180 bln

26 April 2011 13:33 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. Ukraine on Tuesday urged the world to provide more help to overcome the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, saying Kiev had been left alone to fight the fallout for too long, Ahram Online reported.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that Ukraine’s total economic losses from the disaster amounted to 180 billion dollars and said that in some years its spending on overcoming Chernobyl amounted to 10 percent of the state budget.

"Despite difficult economic circumstances, Ukraine for the last 20 years has been financing on its own the expenses on overcoming the disaster," Azarov said in a statement.

"We are sure that the solidarity of nations and states, the humanism of modern civilisation will not leave Ukraine without help from outside," he said. "We thank those who give it and, in advance, thank those who will offer it."

The disaster 25 years ago on 26 April 1986 took place while Ukraine was still a Soviet republic. Its post-independence leaders have long complained of the scale of the problem they inherited after the collapse of the USSR.

Azarov said that in Ukraine alone, 2.2 million people have status as victims of Chernobyl, 255,000 of whom are officially recognised as "liquidators" who were involved in the clean-up effort.

"Chernobyl left behind social and economic problems which will not go away for years," he said.