Statue marks 40 years since Chornobyl disaster

A sculpture to mark the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster has been unveiled in Cork’s Marina Park.

The sculpture, designed by Sandra Bell, depicts the ‘Chornobyl Mother’, which represents “the mothers of Chornobyl children and their quest to protect and save their children”.

The statue is seated, and dressed in flowing robes. The three points on which the robes rest symbolise the children affected by the disaster in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

Adi Roche, Voluntary CEO of Chornobyl Children International (CCI) said the statue gives “form to memory and compassion”.

“It ensures that the voices and experiences of those affected are neither forgotten nor overlooked,” she said.

On 26 April 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant left the plant’s reactor core exposed.

This resulted in the irradiation of over 100,000km2 of territory in Ukraine, Belarus, and Western Russia; 30 people were killed as a direct result of the accident and radiation sickness that followed.

Significant health problems caused by the high-levels of radiation in the exclusion zone around the power plant are reported to this day.

CCI was established in 1991 to assist children who had been affected by the disaster. The organisation has provided over €110 million in aid to the Chornobyl area since its foundation.

It has also brought 26,500 children on rest and recuperation holidays to Ireland to escape exposure to deadly radiation.

“We took a tragedy that occurred thousands of miles away and made its victims our own. We proved that while radiation lingers for centuries, and Chornobyl is forever, but the half-life of Irish kindness is infinite,” said Roche.

Krystina Nikityonik, a victim of the fallout of the disaster, shared her account with those assembled for the unveiling.

Nikityonik was born with severe disabilities, and spent her early childhood in a mental institution. She described those years as “not living, but simply surviving”. She said that her disabilities left her “abandoned”.

She said that things changed when CCI’s aid arrived, and brought her to Ireland, where she said she received life-saving surgeries which “gave her freedom for the first time”.

“Today, I live a life full of love and independence. I am happy, and I am truly alive. I am living proof that kindness changes lives,” she said.

Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland Laryso Gerasko highlighted the ongoing dangers that the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War poses to the region.

“In 2022, Russia weaponised nuclear infrastructure. In March the same year, Russia occupied the Chornobyl exclusion zone, severing communications, and creating the risk of renewed disaster through reckless military activity.

“The world watched with alarm as trenches were dug in contaminated soil, disturbing radioactive dust and endangering lives,” she said.

She also highlighted the ongoing occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The unveiling also featured a performance by the Ukrainian Community Choir Kalyna, as well as Cork piper Eoin Ó Riabhaigh.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.