Valery Bespalov

{{Short description|Ukrainian engineer at Chornobyl Power Plant}}

{{Expand Ukrainian|topic=bio|date=October 2023}}

{{Infobox person

|name = Valery Bespalov

|native_name = Валерий Беспалов

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1957|9|21}}

|birth_place = Lisivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR

|citizenship = USSR → Ukraine

|awards = Hero of Ukraine

}}

{{Chernobyl}}

Valery Alekseyevich Bespalov ({{langx|ru|Валерий Алексеевич Беспалов}}; {{langx|uk|Валерій Олексійович Беспалов|Valerii Oleksiiovych Bespalov}}; born 21 September 1957) is an engineer who worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. After the Chernobyl disaster, he was one of the three men in the "suicide squad" team to drain the steam suppression pools under the fourth reactor building. In 2019 he was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine.{{Cite news |date=2019-06-28 |title="Чернобыльские водолазы" удостоились звания "Героя Украины" |language=ru |work=Радио Свобода |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/30025714.html |access-date=2023-10-09}}{{Cite web |title=The real story of the Chernobyl divers |url=https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-real-story-of-the-chernobyl-divers |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Sky HISTORY TV channel |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kramer |first=Sarah |title=A Chernobyl 'suicide squad' of volunteers helped save Europe — here's their amazing true story |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/chernobyl-volunteers-divers-nuclear-mission-2016-4 |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}

Despite media reports claiming the three men died of radiation poisoning shortly after the incident, he remains alive in Kyiv as of 2019.{{Cite news |date=2019-06-12 |title=Chernobyl survivors assess fact and fiction in TV series |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48580177 |access-date=2023-10-09}}