Fifteen years after the world's worst nuclear disaster, people across much of the former Soviet Union lit candles and offered prayers yesterday for those killed and sickened by the explosion at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
The explosion on April 26th 1986 and the fire that followed sent a radioactive cloud over much of Europe and contaminated large areas in then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
The Ukrainian government says more than 4,000 of those who took part in the hasty and poorly organised Soviet cleanup effort have died, and that more than 70,000 Ukrainians were fully disabled by the disaster.
In all, seven million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are estimated to suffer physical or psychological effects of radiation related to the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Hundreds of people attended an overnight memorial service at a small Kiev chapel that was built to commemorate the disaster. They held burning candles as priests read out prayers in memory of the dead.
A bell rang shortly after 1 a.m., exactly the same time as the reactor exploded. Some in the crowd broke into tears.
One woman described how the building in which she worked at Chernobyl grew dark and shook. From a window, she saw "a glow, like haze in the summer" over the reactor.
A similar service was held in Slavytuch, a town of Chernobyl workers close to the plant. President Leonid Kuchma was due to visit the town and plant.
In a statement marking the anniversary, Mr Kuchma urged the world not to forget Chernobyl and to help Ukraine deal with its consequences.
"Chernobyl is a common tragedy, a common pain of our planet, and its echo must not fall silent in our hearts," Mr Kuchma said.
At the UN, the secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan, appealed for people to remember the needs of those who are still suffering from the effects of Chernobyl.
"Together we must extend a helping hand to our fellow human beings and show that we are not indifferent to their plight," Mr Annan said in a statement released yesterday. In Moscow, a service for victims of Chernobyl was to take place at the Danilov monastery, commemorating Ukrainians, Belarussians and Russians affected by the disaster. Ceremonies were scheduled in Belarus.
In Rome, Pope John Paul II honoured the victims of the explosion, delivering a special message at an audience in the Vatican. "Today we must all remember that terrible tragedy," the Pope told representatives from organisations and church dioceses which provided care to the youngest victims of the disaster.