Since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, many countries have extended a helping hand to Ukraine. And it's not just about support at the national level. Many foreign cities and communities began to provide various humanitarian aid to Ukrainian sister cities and partners, welcomed refugees, and became more active in implementing energy efficiency projects, reconstruction, and support for internally displaced persons. All of this has certainly prompted Ukrainian cities to look for opportunities to expand international cooperation with municipalities in other countries, UNN writes.
Despite the challenging situation in the country and martial law, increased international cooperation has become a window of opportunity for Ukrainian communities to develop themselves.
In particular, the cities agree to cooperate in various areas: humanitarian support, industry, IT technologies, tourism, medicine, education, culture, housing and communal services, solid waste management, and much more. In addition, foreign municipalities are showing a great desire to help with the post-war reconstruction of Ukrainian settlements.
For example, during the full-scale invasion, Kyiv signed various cooperation agreements with cities such as Hamburg, Madrid, Lyon, Marseille, Oslo, Sarajevo, Dublin, Wroclaw, and Zagreb.
Other cities are trying to keep up with the capital. In particular, in 2022 alone, the German cities of Düsseldorf, Mannheim, and the French city of Metz became sister cities of Chernivtsi, and the Polish city of Lublin became a sister city of Kharkiv. Polish Rzeszów established friendly relations with Chernihiv, and Rivne received the American city of Federal Way as a sister city.
It is important that foreign municipalities are the first to contact cities in Ukraine. In this way, the French city of Bourges became a sister city to Korosten, and the Slovak city of Poprad offered cooperation to Uzhhorod.
In this situation, it is important that all twinning and partnership agreements do not remain mere documents, but are filled with real cooperation.
Thus, in 2023, an agreement was signed to launch a solidarity partnership between Brovary City Council and the municipalities of the German cities of Erlangen and Jena, and this year a memorandum of partnership was signed with the Lan Dill district.
As part of this cooperation, three ambulances, four fire trucks, three municipal vehicles, one school bus, generators, medical equipment for the Brovary Clinical Hospital and a modular IDP camp were transferred to the Brovary community. The total cost of the purchased equipment and humanitarian aid amounted to over 830 thousand euros.
"It is important for us that all the sister cities and partners of our Brovary community started helping us from the first days of the war. The French city of Fontaine-sous-Bois, the Estonian city of Sillamäe, the American cities of Rockford and Tacoma, the Croatian city of Zadar, and the Grodzin, Krasnitsky, and Gniezno counties of Poland provided us with various humanitarian aid, hosted our refugees, and organized vacations for children of military personnel and fallen soldiers. We are extremely grateful to them for this. We continue and deepen our cooperation, looking for new international partners to implement humanitarian and infrastructure projects," Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko told UNN in a commentary.
The Brovary City Council emphasizes that thanks to international partners, many different projects are being implemented in various areas of the community's life.
In particular, thanks to the assistance of the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID, Brovaryteplovodoenergia received five generators, a modern emergency repair vehicle, and other equipment.
As part of its cooperation with German partners, one of Brovary's kindergartens will receive funds to equip a solar power plant.
The Brovary Primary Health Care Center became a participant in the project to improve staff skills, empower nurses, and provide care to patients with suspected and diagnosed tuberculosis.
As part of the EU4Business program, a Business Support Center was opened in the Brovary community.