Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez begins an official visit to this capital on Friday to discuss bilateral relations with his Ukrainian counterpart, Konstantin Grischenko, and other state officials.

Rodriguez met early today with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich before attending official private talks with Grischenko, who visited Havana in December.

During the visit to the island, the Ukrainian diplomatic head thanked Cuba for its support in providing medical treatment for some 26,000 children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

Rodriguez also plans to meet with Vladimir Litvin, chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, and Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov.

Saturday's agenda includes visiting the Memorial Complex "National Museum of the World War II (1941-1945)," and a meeting with activists from the Solidarity Movement with Cuba, which recently organized a campaign of pro-Cuba political and cultural activities in Kiev.

Ukraine has an extensive national network of solidarity committees which support the struggle to free the Cuban antiterrorist fighters Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero, unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998. Guerrero studied at the Aviation Institute in Kiev.