Marta Barandiy and Georges Dallemand in Ukraine

More than eight months into the war, we and the whole world every day see the terrible pictures of the war in Ukraine and eventually we get used to it. That is why the work of parliamentarians, ministers, and heads of state visiting Ukraine is important. Having seen the everyday life of the people there with your own eyes, you can realise that the war is not over and that Ukraine still needs assistance and support from Europe and the world.

Supporting this initiative, Marta Barandiy, head of the charity organisation Promote Ukraine, accompanied Georges Dallemand, MP of the Kingdom of Belgium, who made a working visit to Ukraine.

“I had a week-long visit to Ukraine with Georges Dallemand and two journalists to show life in Ukraine in cities and small villages, reminding that winter is ahead and hard times await us.

Our trip started with Lviv. We met with the mayor and the governor of the region and talked with our guys in a military hospital. Then we went to Kyiv, Kharkiv, visited Irpin and Izyum. We talked to people, we saw the consequences of the “work” of the Russian invaders…

From the very beginning, our trip began to “harden” us, when the air raid alert went off before the meeting in Lviv and we had to wait in a bomb shelter for several hours. But then the pictures were even worse when we arrived in Irpin and I saw that all the apartment blocks had their windows broken.

During our visit, Georges constantly communicated with Ukrainians from Lviv to Izyum, asking people a question that may seem strange, “How do you expect the end of this war?” And what impressed me the most was the people’s answer to this question; all the people throughout Ukraine said the same: “We expect the victory of Ukraine, and if there is no victory, then we don’t need our lives!” This demonstrates the indomitable will of Ukrainians, which cannot but inspire.

I think we fulfilled our mission on this trip because Georges Dallemand returned to Belgium and urged his colleagues and the Prime Minister to boost aid to Ukraine,” Marta told us.

As a reminder, Belgium is one of the two countries, along with Hungary, that has not yet sent a government official to Ukraine.

Source: rtbf.be