“Five people were killed in the attack on this building. One was a pregnant woman.” The mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klitschko, announced that during his visit this Friday, he showed Ada Colau one of the areas attacked by Russia on Zhylianska street. On 17 October, a missile killed five people. The former boxer remembered those days 678 properties in the city were targeted by similar attacks.
The mayor of Barcelona and his Kievan counterpart met at the Kyiv City Hall after 11 p.m., before approaching the demolished building, which contradicted the seeming normality of life in the city.
normal life
“What is normal life?” Klitschko asked himself this when he was told that the population went about their daily lives outside of the war situation that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February.
As he spoke, a food delivery man stopped his bike to take a remote ‘selfie’ with the mayor. Although everything is more or less normal, normality is extinguished again with the image of a skyscraper destroyed by another missile in an attack on 10 October on Lva Tolstoho street, 100 meters away. Although the public and authorities decided to put an end to the names of streets and squares long ago associated with Russia, there is still a plaque with Tolstoy’s name on the road that was attacked.
Sarajevo example
Colau’s journey is like lightning because that’s what he’s actually after gesture to make visible support for the capital Ukraine, the mayor announced, will strengthen its ties in the future. Already existing ties: Klitschko has visited Barcelona twice in recent months and Kyiv will be a guest city at the Mercè in 2023.
Now, the mayor has announced, this support will be strengthened. He exemplified Barcelona’s ties to Sarajevo during the Balkan War: “Historically, as with the city of Sarajevo, Barcelona had a tradition of solidarity and commitment. A long tradition of welcome and solidarity. We are not talking about a war, but about the invasion of the Russian Army. occurs Europe and questions us directly”.
Refugees in Barcelona
“We will never forget how thousands of people arrived at Sants station by train a few months ago and welcomed them with open arms,” Colau said of the Ukrainian refugees who left the country as a result of the occupation. Barcelona has served 17,000 Ukrainians (some just passing through the Catalan capital) since the beginning of the Russian occupation, and he has registered at 2,600, half of them are women and a third are underage.
“I am very glad, welcome. I would be much more happy to show the city in better days. We are grateful for the support of Barcelona in this critical period. This is not a war, it is terrorism, it is genocide. Russia wants to destroy our normal life, all of us. “We want to be a part of his family,” he said.
material support
Colau visited the city with the Barcelona Fire Chief. Sebastian Massague The council is preparing to meet some of Kiev’s basic needs: Barcelona will immediately send to the capital of Ukraine electricity generators capable of serving buildings, which are especially needed during periods of low temperature.
The same shipment will include hydraulic equipment, 300 biological protective suits, 100 chemical protective suits and 15,000 masks to rescue people. In a second shipment, two vehicles will be sent to Kiev, a crane with a lifting capacity of up to 40 tons and a new fire truck. The Catalan capital has already sent a pump truck and a self-propelled vehicle transferred to the Ukrainian capital by the Port of Barcelona.
night control
The mayor’s trip was coordinated with the State Department, and indeed the first attempt had to be postponed. Colau flew from Barcelona to Krakow via Munich on Thursday. He then went to Przemyśl, Poland, to take the safest route to Ukraine: a night train from the Polish town to Kiev.
The train journey took about 11 hours, including the train stopped at a Ukrainian Army checkpoint. He traveled in people and in some cases returned to Kiev convinced that the worst was over. Colau will start the reverse route to Barcelona this Friday night.