Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib traveled to Ukraine this Saturday. They arrived in kyiv around 7:45 a.m. (6:45 a.m. Belgian time) for a visit that was kept secret until the last minute. On Saturday, Alexander De Croo and Hadja Lahbib met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital. They have reached an agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals: Belgium has undertaken to co-finance cereal exports from Ukrainian ports to the south and the poorest countries.
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After this meeting, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs paid tribute to the victims of the “Holodomor”, a Great famine which raged in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 and recognized as one of the great European genocides of the 20th century. . This famine had decimated millions of Ukrainian peasants. Alexander de Croo and Hadja Lahbib were with President Volodymyr Zelenski.
This Sunday, the visit continues for our leaders. Two stages are planned: first visit the town of Borodyanka followed by that of Boutcha, two towns close to the Ukrainian capital. “The brutality of this Russian war is unreal”said Alexander De Croo.
In Borodyanka, a town regarding fifty kilometers northwest of kyiv, the Prime Minister, the Minister and their delegation saw the devastation caused by rocket fire and airstrikes by Russian forces. They also paused in front of one of Banksy’s artworks. “It’s incredibly poignant, and here you can only see the damage. This is where hundreds of people lived and this is where dozens of people have just been executed”slipped the Prime Minister.
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Borodyanka was one of the Ukrainian towns hardest hit by Russian shelling immediately following the Russian invasion began on February 24. For weeks, Russian soldiers occupied the city. In April, Ukrainian soldiers liberated the city.
After that, the delegation went to Boutcha. After the withdrawal of Russian troops, hundreds of bodies were discovered in a mass grave located in a church. “It shows how horrible wars are and that it must end as soon as possible”reacted Minister Hadja Lahbib.
“We see children, civilians, shot in cold blood for no reason”she said once more. “We can only denounce this and hope that justice will be done, also think of reconstruction and peace.”
The fight once morest propaganda is also important. “The Russians are saying – despite the photos – that everything was staged. Now we have to make sure that the prosecution is done properly,” she added.
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Medical equipment for a hospital
The Belgian association “Belgian Solidarity Convoy” brought more than fifteen tons of material early Saturday followingnoon to a hospital in Liubashivka, central Ukraine.
A Ukrainian truck driver and several other volunteers who work at the Liubashivka hospital came to Uman on Saturday morning to load all the equipment for Liubashivka, a city in central Ukraine, located just over 150 kilometers north of Odessa. “There was a need in Liubashivka, which is located at a fairly strategic crossroads between kyiv and Odessa. We are set back from the front, in a transit situation. It is a fairly important communication route between Moldova, Ukraine and Russia”explained to the Belga agency Jonathan Nouichi, president of the ASBL “Belgian Solidarity Convoy”.
In total, more than 15 tons of medical equipment arrived in the early followingnoon at the Liubashivka hospital. Beds, bedside tables, surgical thread, operating room equipment, infusions and medicines have been delivered. Help that was necessary for this hospital whose equipment still dates from the last century.
On Sunday morning, the Belgians will head to Kryvyi Rih to bring generators. Their price has doubled for a few weeks in Ukraine. This is the eighth time that the association from Liège has gone to Ukraine to provide humanitarian aid.
