Farmers in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region are facing the perils of planting spring crops in a conflict zone. After two years of war, thousands of mines and unexploded shells lurk beneath the soil. Before sowing their fields, local farmers must first rely on deminers to ensure their land is safe. (RFE/RL's Current Time TV, Olga Kalenichenko, Ilya Nikonov)
Ukraine marks 30th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster:
Ukraine is marking the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26 with a memorial service and a series of events in remembrance of the world's worst-ever civilian nuclear accident.
Sirens were sounded in the early morning hours to mark 30 years since the moment that the first explosion blew the roof off the building housing a reactor and threw a cloud of radioactive material high into the air -- drifting across Ukraine's borders into Russia, Belarus, and across Northern Europe.
A memorial service was being held in the town of Slavutych, which was built to accomodate workers displaced by the Chernobyl disaster.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko plans to attend a ceremony later on April 26 near the nuclear plant.
A memorial service at a church in Kyiv also was scheduled.
The level of radioactivity remains high in areas around Chernobyl.
Since 2010, work has been under way to build a massive shelter over the damaged reactor and seal in about 200 tons of uranium thought to be still there.
There are fears that if parts of the damaged reactor collapse, another cloud of radioactive material could be thrown into the atmosphere again. (Reuters, AP, BBC)