Ukrainian Bucha and Budapest district became sister cities

Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of Budapest’s 9th district (Ferencváros), announced it yesterday on Facebook that war-torn Bucha, where the Russian troops committed mass executions this February, March and April, became sister cities. On the plaque she shared, there is an inscription saying that the city of Bucha is “the unconquered city”.

According to the Wikipedia, the Bucha massacre was the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians by Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on 1 April 2022 after Russian forces withdrew from the city.

Government official: Hungary helping Ukraine wherever needed

Hungary has been pulling its weight in aiding and supporting Ukraine since the start of the war and is bringing help to its north-eastern neighbour wherever its Ukrainian partners need it, the parliamentary state secretary for foreign affairs said in Ukraine on Thursday.

Neither Transcarpathia nor the rest of Ukraine is being left without help, as Hungary is doing everything in its power to ease the suffering of the Ukrainian people, Levente Magyar said in Chop (Csap) while delivering power generators and food intended for the recently liberated city of Kherson. The southern Ukrainian city and its surrounding areas are without power, water or heating, Magyar said, noting that Ukrainian MP Yulia Hryshyna and Transcarpathia Governor Viktor Mykyta had requested aid for the region. The Hungarian government immediately reallocated 250,000 euros in funding to procure the necessary aid, which has been delivered in collaboration with the Hungarian Ecumenical Charity, Magyar said.

Meanwhile, the state secretary delivered 100 laptops together with Aleksandr Kostuchenko, the deputy minister for education, to a Hungarian and a Ukrainian-language school in Berehove (Beregszász), with 250 more to be sent to other parts of the country. Magyar said Hungary will continue delivering laptops to Ukraine.

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The deputy minister told Hungarian public media that the humanitarian aid provided by Hungary would help improve online education, noting that more and more schoolchildren were being forced to attend class this way due to air raid warnings and power outages.

Magyar also handed over two minivans for Bucha — as agreed with local leaders in the summer. Bucha Deputy Mayor Serhiy Shepetko noted that the Hungarian Ecumenical Charity had been the first to deliver humanitarian aid to the town after Russian forces retreated, and aid was constantly coming in.

Magyar said Hungary has rebuilt and renovated a dozen institutions in Ukraine, adding that next year it will begin building a 10 million euro multifunctional local council service centre in Bucha.

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Source: MTI