Alexander Yukhymovych Sirota (, ; born June 7, 1976) is a Ukrainian

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. He writes in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and Ukrainian. As a former resident of

Pripyat Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat (river), Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth ''atomgrad'' ...

, he is an eyewitness and a victim of the 1986

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

. He has devoted many articles, photographs, and video reports to the city of Pripyat and to the

Chernobyl catastrophe On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

. He is the editor-in-chief of the internet project "pripyat.com" and the president of the International Public Organization "Center Pripyat.com". In May 2008, he became the winner of the ІХ-th international competition "Golden George" of films, TV-programs, and internet projects about protective law and law enforcement. In that competition, Alexander won "The Big Tape of George" award for his website devoted to Chernobyl. He is a member of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine since 2008 and a member if International Federation of Journalists.

Biography

Alexander Sirota was born on June 7, 1976, in Kiselevka of the Kherson area, Ukraine. From 1983, Alexander and his mother,

Lyubov Sirota Lyubov Makarivna Sirota (; born 21 June 1956) is a Ukrainian poet, writer, playwright, journalist and translator. As a former inhabitant of the city of Pripyat and an eyewitness (and victim) of the Chernobyl disaster, she has devoted a great par ...

, lived in the new city of

, the satellite of the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, a ...

— only 1.5 kilometers away from the plant. There, Alexander studied in the school No. 1 until April 26, 1986, when the

Chernobyl Catastrophe On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

happened. On April 27, all inhabitants of Pripyat were evacuated due to a

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

at the

. Everyone was forced to leave the city with the promises that they would be able to return soon. From 1987, Alexander lived in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, where he finished high school No. 267 in 1994. Later on, he finished the

International Solomon University International Solomon University (ISU) is a non-governmental higher education institution in Ukraine. It was founded in 1991. In 1991-1994 Professor Alexander Tetelbaum was the President-founder of ISU. Teaching at the ISU begun on September 1, ...

of Kyiv with a degree in history. Alexander's first experience as a journalist came from his work about the Chernobyl tragedy titled "I Want Them to Remember," which has been translated into English and published in the magazine of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations. After this publication, in April 1996, Alexander has been invited by the

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

to the United States to participate in the international action GREENPEACE "Testimonies tours", where Alexander (nicknamed "Sasha") was a representative of Ukraine in mass actions and meetings with the public and the Ukrainian diaspora, which were devoted to the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl Catastrophe. Nowadays, Alexander's articles and photo-reports are published in various mass-media outlets (including newspapers such as "Literary Ukraine", "PostChernobyl", and "Your Health"), and his video reports were used by many Ukrainian and Russian channels and also by the BBC. In December 2006, his video report about the marauding in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and Pripyat was broadcast by the 5th channel of Ukraine. As a result of his report, the Government filed criminal charges for plunder and export of materials from the radiation-polluted zone and created a governmental commission for investigation. From January to March 2005, Alexander worked as an editor of a section “Literature and the Art” of the internet project "Pripyat.com." Later, he became the editor-in-chief of this project. In 2006, Alexander has been elected to be the vice-president of the International Public Organization "Center PRIPYAT.com," the primary goal of which is to report the truthful information about the city of Pripyat, the Chernobyl Catastrophe, and the consequences of the catastrophe to the people all around the world. The center, for the purpose of shedding a truthful light on the Chernobyl Catastrophe, organizes and carries out fact-finding excursions into the Chernobyl Zone and Pripyat. As Alexander has told in the interview to the correspondent of the Russian Information Agency (RIA NEWS) Ivan Sheglov: "I want to believe that those, who visited Pripyat, would not be able to live in a way that there would be dead cities left after them..." When Alexander was the editor-in-chief of "pripyat.com," he wrote and posted together with "Literary Ukraine" a petition title
"An Appeal to the President, the Government and the Supreme Rada of Ukraine, to the Chapters of all countries of the world, the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the United Nations,"
to make Pripyat a city-monument and to grant it International status of the City-Museum. Additionally, they asked to include under protection the 15-km zone of alienation around Pripyat and the city Chernobyl. Furthermore, their appeal asked to grant the Exclusion Zone a status of a historical-ecological reservation and to turn it into a monument, the place of the greatest technological accident on the planet. Additionally, among the many projects that Pripyat.com undertakes, there is one very special project titled "The Photo of Your Home." This project is made for former Pripyat residents.

Articles, interviews, a photo- and video-reports

* "I want them to remember" — DHA NEWS No.16, September/October 1995

"Zone. Prypyat. Winter-2006" — 2006"
— video.

— the newspaper “PostChornobyl” (29), March 2006 ( ttps://web.archive.org/web/20111009104833/http://www.postchernobyl.kiev.ua/intervyu-z-rollanom-sergiyenkom/ in Ukrainian.
"Spring walk in Pripyat" — 2006
— video.

* ttps://archive.today/20130104164413/http://new.pripyat.com/ru/news/journal/2006/12/02/1342.html Report about visiting Chernobyl atomic power station in November, 30, 2006— photos and video
Flight above Chernobyl, 2007
— video.

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIGgzHmq4iI Video-interview of the former Deputy Chairman of the Pripyat City Executive Committee, Alexander Esaulov
The seminar for mass-media on Chernobyl atomic power station. Photo-reporting, 2007

"Presentation of the site Pripyat.com"
2007 — video.
"WE'LL UNDERSTAND LATER"
2009 — the film about still alive Pripyat.
Channel 5: Pripyat the City-Museum
— video reporting of Alexander Sirota about initiative of the granting to city of Pripyat of the International status of the City-museum
Old-New Year in Pripyat
13–14.01.2010 - photos of Alexander Sirota

References

External links

Cleaning in Pripyat
�� the video scene of 5-th channel Ukrainian TV.
"Our Pripyat"
— YouTube channel with some films of Alexander SirotA

— film Julio Soto: Spain/USA/Ukraine, 2005, 56min (Alexander Sirota is one from heroes of this film)
Virtual Pripyat

The International photo-exhibition of Pripyat "We want that people remembered it"
2009
The New generation of Ukrainian people does not know about lessons of Chernobyl
— the TV's bridge Moscow-Kyiv "Chernobyl: the human factor in technological accidents", Russian Information Agency of News, Moscow, 28.01.2010
The Photo-reporting. The TV's bridge Moscow-Kyiv
28.01.2010 — RIA of News
Pripyat 2011: Soviet dream turned nuclear nightmare

"Chernobyl: The Zone of Silence"
— to 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirota, Alexander 1976 births Living people Ukrainian journalists Ukrainian photographers People from Pripyat