Severely injured children from Ukraine are treated in Austria

The injured, who suffered severe burns in the helicopter crash at a kindergarten near Kyiv on Wednesday, are to be taken to Austria and treated in hospitals in Vienna, Linz and Graz, the Federal Chancellery confirmed on Friday evening. The “Kleine Zeitung” (Saturday edition) had previously reported on it.

Injured must be ventilated with oxygen

The evacuation, agreed on Thursday with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, began on Friday. The three girls between the ages of five and seven as well as two mothers and a father will be transferred to Austria in the coming days. According to the Federal Chancellery, all of the injured are conscious, but must be ventilated with oxygen. The evacuation of the seriously injured was organized by the Ukraine Refugee Coordination Unit of the Ministry of the Interior.

In a statement, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) thanked the hospitals in Austria “who were so quick to accept and treat the victims”. Since the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression, the civilian population in Ukraine has experienced a great deal of suffering and misery. “I’m happy if we can help where innocent children, mothers and fathers are hit in such a particularly terrible way,” said Nehammer, who “as a family man” was particularly affected by the “terrible pictures of the destroyed kindergarten”.

The cause of the helicopter crash that killed 14 people on Wednesday, including the Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj, is still unclear. The helicopter crashed at a kindergarten where children were being taken to the kindergarten by their parents.