Ukraine’s ambassador Markiyan Malski has thanked Poland for its assistance in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe.

"During these last 25 years we have felt that Poland is with us, helping us not only financially, but also sending experts, doctors and taking our children on holiday," Ambassador Malski has told Polish Radio.

On 26 April 1986 a meltdown at a reactor at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in the Ukraine led to the contamination of not only the power plant and its immediate environment, but also a considerable area of Europe.

The World Health Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Agency assess that only 56 people have died as a direct result of the radiation released at Chernobyl and that about 4,000 will die from it eventually.

Other groups, such as Greenpeace, claim that hundreds of thousands will eventually perish from illness caused by exposure to radiation.

Around 350,000 people had to be resettled after the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

President Bronislaw Komorowski said when on a visit to Kiev a week ago that Poland will provide half million euro for further safety programs at the Chernobyl power plant site.

The recent damage to the nuclear power plant in Fukushima in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami has reawakened fears in much of Europe as to the suitability of nuclear power to supply emery needs in the future. The Polish government has vowed, however, to keep to plans to build nuclear power stations in the country, with the first planned to come online by 2020.

Poland is currently surrounded by nations who are already getting substantial amounts of their energy needs from nuclear power.

The Czech Republic has six reactors, Slovakia nine, Ukraine 15 and the Germans have as many as sixteen power stations, although Chancellor Merkel announced immediately after the crisis in Japan that the programme will be under review. (pg)