Today, June 29, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky met with the Chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Austria in Ukraine Arad Benkö and Austrian parliamentarians.
“Thank you very much to you and the entire Austrian government for the help you provide to Ukraine. We are also grateful for the support regarding Ukraine’s application for EU membership. This is especially important for the Lviv region, because we have always considered ourselves a part of Europe, now our country has taken another important step closer to this,” said the head of the Lviv OVA, Maksym Kozytskyi.
Member of the National Council, parliamentarian Helmut Brandstetter noted that a truck with medical cargo was sent to Lviv region to help people who suffered from the war. These are medicines, in particular hemostatic drugs, necessary means for providing emergency care.
“We are very glad to be able to help you now. Medical assistance is crucial, we have sent a medical shipment to your area and a doctor who will be able to explain what to do. We have taken a clear position regarding aid to Ukraine, we support the pro-European and democratic course of your country,” Helmut Brandstetter emphasized.
Arad Benkö, Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Austria in Ukraine, said that he wants to learn about the further needs of the region and establish contacts for cooperation.
The head of the region reported that now there are only officially registered over 240,000 internally displaced persons in Lviv region, but their real number is much higher. Therefore, there is a need to provide housing for these people.
“It is very important for us to start the educational process on time and to release the schools and kindergartens where the displaced people are temporarily living. Therefore, in the region, we are renovating dormitories, which are about 20 objects, and we also want to continue building modular towns where forced migrants can live. And, in fact, the Polish government has supported us in this, they have already built three such facilities. We are conducting negotiations with English charitable foundations and would be grateful for your help in this direction,” said Maksym Kozytskyi.
Orest Chemerys, the head of the health care department of the Lviv OVA, thanked for the medical cargo that had already been received and noted that rehabilitation and prosthetic devices are now needed.
During the meeting, the director of the international technical assistance department, Roman Shepelyak, spoke about the presentation of the “Hands for Mom” project, which took place in Vienna. And he thanked for the warm meeting and activity of the Austrians in purchasing paintings for charity and helping Ukrainian mothers who have lost limbs for prosthetics.
Concluding the meeting, the Austrian parliamentarians noted that they are ready to support the Ukrainian people in the future and will analyze all the needs they heard during the visit.
“It is not Ukraine that should thank Austria, it is us who thank you for protecting pro-European values,” parliamentarian Beate Meinl-Reisinger stressed.