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)
Poroshenko says Savchenko could be returned "within weeks":
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he hopes jailed pilot Nadia Savchenko will return home from Russia as part of a prisoner swap "in a few weeks."
"We agreed a formula for resolving this problem. We agreed on its preliminary terms," he said in a televised interview late on April 24, speaking of his phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week about exchanging Savchenko for Russian prisoners in Ukraine.
"And right now, I firmly hope that the presidential plane with my representatives will return Nadia to Ukraine in a few weeks. I
think it will be a big day for me personally and for many Ukrainians."
There was no immediate response to Poroshenko's comments from Russia, where Savchenko is serving a 14-year jail sentence for involvement in the murder of Russia journalists -- charges that Savchenko denies and Western leaders have called trumped up.
Savchenko's Russian lawyer, Mark Feygin, wrote on Twitter on April 25 that he is skeptical that she will be released within a few weeks, however.
"Most probably, Savchenko will not be released...by the end of May," he said. (AFP, Interfax, TASS)
This ends our live blogging for April 25. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.