About Andriy Hudymyak Expertise I can answer the following questions with 99 % accuracy:
What is the best time to go to Ukraine?
Best places to visit.
What airlines will take you there.
Your safety in Ukraine.
Special advices for non-ukrainians travel to Ukraine.
Business trips vs traveling for pleasure.
Currency exchange.
Experience I have graduated from Lviv State Univrsity (Ukraine), Geography Department in June 1994. Traveling was a requirement. I have traveled all over Ukraine. Also I have travel in Russia (2 months),Poland (3 months), Germany, Belgium, England.
This may be outside of your area of expertise, but I hope you can help me. I am doing a paper on the Chernobyl power plant, and I was wondering if you have any experience with it. Did you ever visit the plant in your travels? Where you in the country at the time of the meltdown (April 26, 1986)? Thank you very much for your time.
Shawna
Answer Shawna
Thank you for your question. Yep, that date bring a lot of memory. My family and i were very lucky. We live in western Ukraine. About 500 miles from were the disaster happend. As the wind in Ukraine almost always blows from west to east we were not affected much by the nuclear dust (radiation). It happend around 2 am. I was only 13 years old. Government did not tell us anything for 2 long weeks. Some people were saying that some cemicals exploded near Kyiv, no one knew anything. My uncle called my mom,day after and told her to give me and my sister Iodide to drink at least once a day. He is a doctor. In a next few days all iodide solutions and red wine dissapered from stores, were simply sold out.
All dermatologists throughout the country were given order by KGB (Russian speaking Communist killing machine) not to tell any patient if they have any radiation related skin desease or other sickness. Otherwise they could easily lose their jobs and end up in Siberia concentration camp (these camps exist till nowdays). They were simply told to lie.
People were trying to run away from the Kyiv (which only 20 miles from Chornobyl (the correct spelling is "Chornobyl"). Again KGB closed the city. A few people made it. One lady who made it back to her parents house not too far from were i lived had a few days to live, she knew it, and she spoke out, she told us the truth, that on May 1, all people were made to walk in a Labor Parade (celebrated these days) uder military and police guns. Nobody was allowed to stay home.
There was no news coverage of any kind about what happend for a few weeks. All schools were open people had to go to work like nohing happend.
Next few years were full of fear. Families were afraid to have kids, cuz a lot human mutants were born. The same were happening of farms (cattle with three legs or two heads). Fruits and vegetables in central Ukrain grew oversized. Apples were size of a watermelon. Some people were loosing hair in matter of days.
For some more info visit www.brama.com they also have some pictures.
If you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact me again.
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