The President of the Republic said this Friday that his visit to Kiev, Ukraine, will probably take place in the summer, and he is awaiting the arrival of the new Ukrainian ambassador to Portugal, “perhaps” in April, to start preparing it.
“Maybe April, not March yet, and from then on it’s just a matter of starting to prepare. It could have been last year, but then it didn’t happen, due to an international commitment (…) it will probably be in the summer”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, before starting a dinner with Ukrainian refugees who are taking a cooking course, in collaboration with with the Mezze Association, at the Lisbon Hotel and Tourism School.
The Head of State reiterated Portugal’s support for Ukraine, which is completing a year of military conflict with Russia, specifically in the humanitarian, financial and military sectors, recalling the support already announced by the Government.
“It may be that in the future we can go further” in supporting Ukraine, admitted Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, needing to refer to “other types of lethal means of intervention and ammunition.”
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than eight million to European countries-, according to the latest data. recent reports from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Right now, at least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war, exactly one year ago, 8,006 dead civilians and 13,287 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
