War has been raging in Ukraine for almost three years. Russia's attacks on the neighboring country are currently more violent than ever. Kherson in the south of the country is also suffering from the constant shelling. Bonn has a solidarity partnership with the city. On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, the city of Bonn handed over four more vehicles from the Bonn Fire Department in the presence of Mayor Katja Dörner. Katja Dörner, together with Stefan Wagner, Head of the Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability, and Marcel Fröhlen, Head of the Technology and Equipment Department of the Bonn Fire Department, handed over the keys to four crew transport vehicles to the Blue-Yellow Cross association.
“Today, the war in Ukraine has been raging for exactly 1,000 days - what a terrible number, behind which lies immeasurable suffering. The people in Ukraine need our help and solidarity more urgently than ever,” said the Mayor. She thanked Olesya Cherepynska-Schmidt, Project Manager and Funding Manager of the Blue-Yellow Cross Association, and Tamara Vuković, Head of the Bonn branch, for their support. This is the third time that the association has taken on the transportation of donated vehicles to Ukraine. “Vehicles are among the most urgently needed items at the moment. The city of Kherson confirms this time and time again,” explained Mayor Dörner. She wished the Blue-Yellow Cross Association a safe journey to Ukraine and a safe return.
“Despite the proximity to the front and the constant shelling, around 90,000 people still live in Kherson. The support provided by our friends from Bonn for municipal services helps people to continue living there. But it also has a high symbolic value: it shows that we are not forgetting the people of Kherson,” emphasized Tamara Vuković. The convoy, which will include other vehicles from other cities, is scheduled to start in Cologne on November 28, 2024.
Donation campaign starts in the run-up to Christmas
A particular focus of the partnership support is the donation project “Bonn helps Kherson”, which the city of Bonn is implementing with its partner “Help - Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe”. “Our Kherson team keeps hearing from the population that they would like more information about how the money is used,” reports Stefan Wagner. To illustrate this, the donation campaign soon to be launched by the city of Bonn together with “Help” shows motifs with the main areas of application. First and foremost, the donations will be used to purchase medical equipment to support the few hospitals that are still functioning. The posters, which are designed in the so-called “line art” style, show three motifs: a baby in an incubator, a person in a wheelchair being pushed by medical staff and medical staff at the bedside of a sick person. The motifs can be seen in the cityscape from December.
The Bonn-based aid organization “Help - Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe” supports the federal city of Bonn by restoring basic medical care in the city of Kherson, procuring medicines and medical equipment. In particular, the children's hospital in Kherson is being supported, for example with an incubator for newborn babies and an X-ray machine. The central warehouse for donations in kind in Bonn, ZeSaBo, also provides support by collecting relief supplies such as hygiene articles and baby food.
Learn more at www.bonn-hilft-cherson.de (opens in a new tab).
Translated with Deep.L (free version)