Belgian PM visits Ukrainian border in support of humanitarian workers
Thirty trucks chartered by Belgium’s rapid intervention structure B-Fast, fourteen by the Belgian public health service and, so far, a total sum of 85 million euros. These are the current figures summing up Belgian humanitarian aid following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as revealed on Tuesday during Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s visit to the Rzeszow depot in Poland, 80 kilometres from the border.
Belgian humanitarian workers in the region are working in consultation with local authorities. Materials are brought across the border by drivers who know the region. At the moment, materials brought across the border consist mainly of food, generators, potable water, tents, medicines, hygiene kits and medical equipment. Two new deliveries are being prepared.
On Tuesday, Belgian prime minister De Croo visited the UNICEF antenna at the border post of Medyka, one of the transit points of Ukrainian refugees regularly visited by international delegations. Refugees in Medyka receive first aid, information and SIM cards for their mobile phones. They are also guided towards shelters if necessary.
“We suspect there is a lot of abuse, and human traffickers against whom we must protect them.”
The refugees in this crisis “are mainly women and children, who deserve special protection”, explained UNICEF’s communications manager Daniel Timme. “We suspect there is a lot of abuse, and human traffickers against whom we must protect them.”
In addition to officially recognised organisations such as UNICEF or the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, many private initiatives have sprung up to help Ukrainian refugees at the Medyka border post. Prime minister De Croo was met by some Belgians, such as former school headmaster Félix Dérison from Liège, who founded the association ‘Liège-Ukraine solidarité’ six weeks ago and organises refugee transports to Belgium. He received a document from the Ukrainian Embassy to prove his legitimacy, based on his cultural contacts in the region over several years. According to Dérison, refugees are at risk of being approached by suspicious individuals. An important point for many refugees, he said, is that they “want to return home as soon as possible”.
This hope of a quick return is illustrated by people queuing up to cross the border back into Ukraine. According to figures provided by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry ten days ago, half a million people have returned, even if only temporarily.
(BRV)
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo pictured during a visit to the UNHCR-UNICEF antenna, near the border with Ukraine after the Russian invasion, in Medyka, southern Poland on Tuesday 12 April 2022. © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK