The Belgian city of Mechelen has officially become Lviv’s sister city. Today, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and Mechelen Mayor Bart Somers signed a cooperation agreement at the Mechelen City Hall.
Ahead is the implementation of an extremely important joint project in Lviv that will help Ukrainians who have been tortured in the war.
“Three times a week, a train with war victims arrives in Lviv. We cannot just stand by, we must help wherever we can. This week we had the honor of hosting a delegation from Lviv. We officially signed a document on cooperation between Mechelen and Lviv. This is a long-term friendship. It is our duty to support our friends from Lviv in every way possible,” said Bart Somers, Mayor of Mechelen.
Bart Somers visited Lviv before the outbreak of full-scale war and during the war itself.
“We met Mr. Somers last year at the Urban Forum in Lviv. He was very much imbued with the idea and mission of the UNBROKEN ecosystem that we are developing in Lviv. At that time, he was also the Minister of Regional Development of the Government of Flanders. This is one of the four regions of Belgium. Thanks to his support, the Government of Flanders decided to allocate 1.5 million euros for the construction of a Center for Assistance to Ukrainians who were tortured during the war in Lviv. This is a very complex but important topic.
Today, the reconstruction of the premises is already underway, where the new rehabilitation center will start operating this year. This project is being developed with foreign experts to provide specialized targeted assistance to Ukrainians who have undergone difficult trials and torment. An important element will be the artistic component. After all, when creating something new, a person can say something that cannot be expressed in words. We are grateful to the city of Mechelen, Bart Sommers and the people of Flanders for this tremendous support,” said Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv Mayor.
After signing the agreement, the mayors handed each other their city flag. Andriy Sadovyi also handed Bart Somers a small piece of a downed Russian missile, which the children had painted with flowers.
As a reminder, a Center for Assistance to Ukrainians who have been tortured as a result of Russian war crimes is being built in Lviv on Zamarstynivska Street. The Government of Flanders is allocating 1.5 million euros for the development of the center. The Lviv City Hall session has already approved the project agreement for the construction. The center will have beds for 40 inpatients and enough space to treat 1000 patients a year (inpatients and outpatients). It is expected to be completed by early 2025.
The center will operate within the UNBROKEN humanity ecosystem, which has many aspects: treatment, rehabilitation and prosthetics for wounded Ukrainians, art, sports, social housing for wounded undergoing treatment, etc. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 17,000 wounded Ukrainians have been treated here. The project is being implemented jointly with the Invincible Charitable Foundation and the First Medical Association of Lviv.
By the way, Mechelen became the 23rd sister city of Lviv. In general, Lviv’s sister cities are currently: Banja Luka, Budapest, Vilnius, Winnipeg, Wroclaw, Krakow, Kutaisi, Lodz, Lublin, Przemysl, Plovdiv, Rochdale, Rzeszow, Tbilisi, Freiburg, Cannes, Würzburg, Aarhus, Pula Pola, Reykjavik, Katowice, Graz, and Mechelen.