Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded the title of the Hero of Ukraine and the Order of Gold Star to liquidators of Chornobyl disaster Oleksiy Ananenko, Valeriy Bespalov and Borys Baranov (posthumously).

Decree No. 468/2019 dated June 27 has been posted on the website of the head of state.

According to the document, senior mechanical engineer of the reactor department of the state-owned specialized enterprise Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (1983-1989) Ananenko, senior engineer of the Chornobyl NPP turbine shop (in 1986) Bespalov and shift manager of this enterprise (1976-2005) Baranov (posthumously) were awarded the highest state award for heroism and selfless actions shown during the liquidation of the Chornobyl disaster, which occurred on April 26, 1986.

As the presidential press service said, all three, risking their lives, prevented a possible second explosion at the Chornobyl NPP. They descended into the bubbler pool under the destroyed reactor and manually opened the shut-off valves to drain it from the water. Thanks to this, it was possible to avoid contact of the melted nuclear material with water, as a result of which a repeated explosion with a high probability could occur.

On April 26, 2018, the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, presented state awards to workers of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and liquidators of the consequences of the accident at the plant. He awarded the Order For Courage of the 3rd Class to Ananenko, Bespalov and Baranov (posthumously).