Valery Alekseyevich Bespalov

Valery Alekseyevich Bespalov (born 21 September 1957) is an engineer who worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Following the Chernobyl disaster Oleksiy Ananenko, Valery Bespalov and Boris Baranov comprised a so-called "suicide squad" that drained the steam suppression pools under the fourth reactor building. Although their feat was quickly forgotten in the wake of the disaster, they were all awarded the Order for Courage in 2018 and the title Hero of Ukraine in 2019.

Ananenko was reportedly very familiar with the building layout.

Despite media reports claiming the three men died of radiation poisoning shortly after the incident, they all survived the initial event. As of 2024 Ananenko and Bespalov are reportedly still alive.