Kyiv - Children and family members who benefitted from the Cuba-sponsored Chernobyl program paid tribute to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, at a meeting held at Havana´s Embassy in Ukraine, diplomatic sources reported Monday.

The Cuban Ambassador to Ukraine, Natacha Díaz Aguilera, welcomed those who, in many cases, came from other cities to express their gratitude to the Cuban doctors, the people, and Fidel for their dedication and tenacity in treating more than 23,000 Ukrainian children.

Testimonies from those present highlighted the professionalism and humanism of Cuban doctors who, as one mother expressed, not only physically cured their children but also gave them moral support to face their sufferings and becoming good men and women.

Those present told their experiences at the program´s venue—the Tarará Resort, east of Havana--  to Cuban documentary filmmaker and photographer Roberto Chile, who is in Ukraine heading of a group of journalists.

Many told of their impressions and anecdotes about Fidel's visits to Tarará and his interest in every detail of the lives of the young patients that Cuba welcomed as its children.