Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it will send a rescue team to Turkey after the earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people in Turkish and Syrian territory. It is estimated that the number of fatalities will continue to rise after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that was recorded in the early hours of Monday.
Kiev sends “a combined state emergency service search and rescue team consisting of 87 people to the Republic of Turkey”, including 10 flight crews, to “assist” in salvage and rescue work, according to the Ukrainian government’s website.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had spoken to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and “expressed his condolences for the terrible tragedy that befell the people of Turkey” as a result of the earthquakes.
“I informed him about the decision to send a group of rescuers and equipment from Ukraine to Turkey to help overcome the effects of the earthquakes,” Zelensky said on social media.
“Ukrainian experts have relevant experience in overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and will reach the affected regions as soon as possible,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had already expressed the country’s readiness on Monday to send a rescue team to Turkey “without endangering the capabilities of Ukraine’s rescue services”.
After a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the early hours of Monday, followed by a magnitude 7.5 quake that hit Turkey and Syria, some 20,000 members of rescue teams are fighting against time to try to save those who were alive. lies under the rubble.
At least four Ukrainian citizens have been injured and 19 have been reported missing in the aftermath of earthquakes in Turkey, according to a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry..
In total, Kiev diplomats know the whereabouts of 38 Ukrainian citizens and are “working with Turkish rescue services to find 19 Ukrainians who have not been contacted,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, quoted by CNN International.
He added that four Ukrainians had minor injuries.
It should be recalled that Turkey has acted as a mediator in the conflict between Kiev and Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine last February. It should be noted that Ukraine has not announced aid to Syria, which was badly hit by the earthquakes. Damascus is an ally of Russia, which has military bases in Syria.
News updated at 6:05 PM
Source: DN
