The economic losses Ukraine has sustained as a result of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster total will nearly $180 billion by 2015, said President Viktor Yanukovych.

"In experts' estimate, the total economic losses Ukraine has sustained as a result of the nuclear disaster at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant will reach $180 billion by 2015, which is the size of Ukraine's one-year GDP," Yanukovych said while visiting the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

A realistic strategy must be devised for minimizing losses, he said.

"A program to rehabilitate the woodlands, contaminated after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, could be launched," he said while commenting on programs for dealing with the Chornobyl aftermath.

Almost UAH 140 million has been put into two districts of the region over the past three years, Yanukovych said.

"We must draft a rigorous state program for Chornobyl and turn the Shelter facility into an environmentally safe system," he said.

Concerning the project to build a new confinement for the nuclear power plant, he said the project is estimated at almost EUR 1 billion.

Yanukovych thanked the European countries, the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Russia, the United States, Canada and Japan for their contributions to the Shelter Fund.