We arrived at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, reactor 4, fifteen minutes before two in the morning of April 27, 1986. We saw graphite scattered about. Misha, the camera man, asked: "What is graphite?" I kicked it away. But one of the fighters on the other truck picked it up. "It's hot," he said. The pieces of graphite were of different sizes, some big, some small enough to pick up. We didn't know much about radiation. Even those who worked there had no idea. There was no water left in the trucks. Misha filled the cistern and we aimed the water at the top. Then those boys who died went up to the roof-Vashchik Kolya and others, and Volodya Pravik. They went up the ladder and I never saw them again. (Vladimir Shevchenko 1986)