The Austrian Red Cross also sent delegates on Friday. The Upper Austrian Georg Ecker is sent with an assessment team by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evaluate the need for water supply in areas in Ukraine that are still accessible.
Priority: Provide refugees with water
“My team will be in the west in the border region. Our top priority now is to supply the refugees with water. Then we will help further east, where the water supply was interrupted by the conflict. Of course I approach such a place with the necessary respect commitment – but the people need us now, the situation on site is getting worse with every passing hour,” said Ecker.
Lidwina Dox from Salzburg will organize help for people fleeing from Budapest, but will also be on the road in the affected countries to coordinate with the national Red Cross societies. The Viennese Martin Krottmayer is to take over important coordination work in the areas of organization, financing and civil protection in Brussels as the interface to the European Union.
Aid deliveries worth over two million euros
In addition to sending experts, the Austrian Red Cross also sends aid worth over two million euros to Ukraine and neighboring countries for people in need. The first truck with 3,500 blankets for people in the Uzhgorod border region arrived on Wednesday. Further deliveries of 33,000 hygiene kits, 500 camp beds, additional blankets and tents are in preparation. “The Red Cross is in constant contact with the Red Cross societies in Ukraine and their neighboring countries and thus receives detailed information about what is needed on site,” it said.
The presence of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen would have been planned for the farewell. However, the head of state was in contact with a person who later tested positive for the corona virus and is therefore not taking any public appointments for the time being as a precaution.
Other aid organizations also sent aid to the region. The Austrian Caritas sent 50 more pallets of baby food, hygiene products and groceries. Additional aid deliveries are being prepared in cooperation with “Neighbors in Need”. Volkshilfe sent two articulated lorries full of groceries, hygiene items, medical products, underlay mats and children’s sleeping bags to Chernivtsi.
Source: Nachrichten
