Government makes benefits for Chernobyl veterans a priority

Providing social guarantees to individuals affected by the Chernobyl disaster is one of the government’s priorities, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

This is especially important, as currently 2.107 million people have the status of those affected by the Chernobyl disaster, which is almost 5 % of the population of Ukraine. 240,000 of them are so called “liquidators”, 117,000 - disabled persons, and 454,000 affected children.

"The Ministry of Social Policy constantly seeks opportunities to strengthen social protection of citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster. In particular, a number of legal acts to improve the provision of benefits and compensation to certain categories of the population was developed," Vyacheslav Kolomiets, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, said.

To implement these programs, resolutions of the Cabinet were developed. They envision: abolition of the need to establish connection between the breadwinner’s death with the Chernobyl disaster, strengthening of social protection of children who have lost their status of affected individuals, as well as providing monetary compensation to parents of affected children who attend pre-schools short stay facilities and are not provided with food.

Among the top priorities of the Ministry of Social Policy is also strengthening of social protection of certain categories of citizens affected by the Chernobyl accident, that often "drop out" of the general list. To this end, specific bills have already been developed, which will strengthen, in particular, social security of Chernobyl widows.