Hungary offers hosting children from eastern Ukraine, providing aid

Kiev (MTI) – Hungary will this year again host 700 children from eastern Ukraine in summer camps similarly to last year, with state support, a senior government official announced in Kiev on Friday.

The programme includes children whose fathers died or got injured in the armed conflict in the Donetsk region, State Secretary Miklós Soltész said after talks with Natalya Fedorovich, Ukraine’s s deputy minister for social policy.

The children will be hosted in groups of 40-60 for a week in camps at Lake Velence in central Hungary, he told MTI, adding that their schedule will include day trips to Budapest.

Soltész thanked the joint efforts of Ukrainian charities and volunteers in helping Hungary host over the past two summers close to 1,300 children whose fathers have been serving in the eastern war zone of the neighbouring country.

Noting another form of cooperation, Soltész said this year another 20 Ukrainian soldiers will undergo rehabilitation in Hungarian hospitals with government support.

He further noted plans by the Hungarian government to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine this year again in cooperation with Hungarian charities.

Last year Hungary dispatched 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid including medical equipment, medicine and durable food supplies to Ukraine, Soltész said.

He said the aid would be put together according to a request by the Ukrainian side and would be delivered by autumn or not later than the beginning of winter. Fedorovich told MTI that Ukraine would need medical equipment and medicine.

Source: MTI