Italy has airlifted an initial load of relief supplies and equipment to Ukraine, on the basis of a request received from the Government in Kiev, following the heavy storms and floods that have battered the country in recent days, causing large-scale destruction of roads and other infrastructure particularly in the western regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Transcarpathia. A second humanitarian flight is about to be dispatched.
The timely operation, by the Civil Protection Department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Defence, has been carried out within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, activated by Ukraine, which pools the resources for mitigating the negative effects of natural disasters worldwide. Italy is pleased to provide concrete solidarity to Ukraine, remembering the valuable and effective contribution offered by the team of twenty doctors and paramedics, specialised in critical care and resuscitation, that the Government of Kiev dispatched to our country last April, in the midst of the COVID-19 emergency.
