From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 29, 1986:

The Soviet government had released a four-sentence dispatch on the previous day (April 28), saying that one of the atomic reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant had been damaged and that measures were being taken to “eliminate the consequences.” The dispatch did not indicate when the accident had occurred or how serious it was, but abnormally high radiation levels had been detected on April 27 in Finland, Denmark and Sweden. [It was later determined that the accident had occurred on April 26.] Nuclear experts in then-West Germany and in Sweden said that the Soviets had asked for expert advice on “how to fight a graphite fire in a nuclear power plant.” A retired U.S. atomic industry executive in Washington said that the Chernobyl reactor and other similar Soviet power plants had had “numerous small leaks” for years. The Reagan administration expressed “deep regret” over the accident and offered humanitarian and technical assistance to the Soviets.