With the help of companies, associations and relief services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces emergency aid deliveries to Ukraine, via Poland, worth several million euros.
In the management of the conflict, there is the long term, diplomacy, and the short term, the humanitarian aid provided to the authorities and to the Ukrainian population. If Emmanuel Macron comes up against the inflexible Vladimir Putin in the first register, France is also participating in the efforts in the second. And all state services are mobilizing. A convoy will leave this Wednesday towards the border between Romania and Ukraine: “100 firefighters and rescuers will dispatch 11 fire vehicles and 16 person rescue vehicles”, according to a statement on Tuesday from the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs. will be added “23 trucks transporting 49 tonnes of medical and relief materials”, like the “protective equipment, hand ladders or hoses”. This Tuesday, “a convoy of 21 new ambulances” also left France.
The evening before, the Quai d’Orsay had indicated that it had transported 55 tonnes of medical and electronic equipment to Ukraine via Poland. The ministry has also presented, on social networks, the logistical preparations in a video embellished with a strange elevator music:
The medical equipment – 10 tonnes in total – includes in particular ten oxygen generators intended for intensive care units as well as 9 tonnes of medicines. France also sent 31 generators, including 6 high capacity, “intended to strengthen the electrical safety of Ukrainian health structures”, as well as 4 tons of infant milk “offered by a French company in the agri-food sector”.
To ensure the continuity of links and communications, 8 tonnes of IT and communication equipment – smartphones, computers, routers as well as 60 km of optical fiber – will also be distributed, “thanks to the donations of several companies”, indicates the Quai d’Orsay. Finally, 9 family tents of 42m2 were also offered by the French Red Cross for the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
This emergency aid, worth 2.4 million euros, was sent by A330 cargo plane from Paris to Warsaw, the ministry said in a statement. “In connection with the Polish authorities, these materials will be handed over to the Ukrainian authorities without delay”it is specified.
This humanitarian aid comes in addition to the military equipment sent by France to Ukraine. If the government does not wish to communicate officially on the subject so as not to reveal the precise needs of the Ukrainian authorities, it is common knowledge that France delivers weapons and bulletproof vests to Ukraine.
Nearly 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive, half of them to neighboring Poland.
Update : at 12:28 p.m., with the addition of the fire and personal rescue convoy on Wednesday.