“There was no fear, we had a clear task, no one thought about the consequences” - Vasily Nikolaychuk, a pensioner of the internal affairs bodies, who participated in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
On April 26, 1986, the largest man-made disaster in human history occurred — the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. One of the heroes who in the early days went to eliminate the consequences of the nuclear tragedy was Nikolaychuk Vasily Milkovich.
Vasily Milkovich was born in Bukovina in the village of Vartikivtsi. In 1985, after the end of military service, the man decided to link his life with service in the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine.
In 1986, he went to Kyiv to undergo the initial training of employees of the internal affairs bodies. It was then that Vasily, 22, got to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where in the early days he and his colleagues carried out service in areas covered by radiation.
“The night from April 25 to 26 I remember very well. At 2:00am, we were raised on the alarm and informed that we were leaving for an official assignment. We did not have time for the meeting and where we were being taken - no one knew. At about 5:30 in the morning we arrived in Chernobyl, then we were informed that there were explosions at the nuclear power plant,” recalls Vasily Milkovych.
On the first day at the scene, the personnel of the internal affairs bodies, which included the Bukovinian, were divided into certain groups, which alternated in the performance of official duties. In particular, those who controlled public security and protected human property evacuated the population and monitored the entry and exit of vehicles into the exclusion zone.
“My colleagues and I, in turn, carried a patrol and post service in the city of Pripyat for more than six hours. We did not have any protective clothing other than respirators. The risk of exposure was very great, but it did not stop any of us. Without thinking about the health consequences, without having skills and experience, we did everything possible with our comrades to localize the consequences of the Chernobyl jet disaster,” the man says.
Continuing his memories of those terrible days, Vasily Milkovich says that one of the worst events he saw at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the fall of a helicopter. The crew died.
“It was hard to see people die, and you can't help anything. Those events have been etched in my memory forever. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a tragedy of all mankind, which cannot be forgotten!” says the liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Vasily Milkovich devoted more than 20 years of his life to serving in law enforcement agencies. In the rank of senior ensign in 2003, the man retired. Now he continues to actively support the public position and is a member of the Chernivtsi Regional Veterans' Organization NGO “Association of Veterans of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine”
The profession of his father was inherited by the son of Vasily Milkovich, the current employee of the GUNP in the Chernivtsi region, police lieutenant Vasily Nikolaychuk, who with honor and dignity serves as a police officer of the Mamaev territorial community.
National Police of Ukraine
