Serhii Morhunov: Switzerland is Ready to Launch a Humanitarian Mission in Vinnytsia

On April 3, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to Ukraine Claude Wild arrived in Vinnytsia together with the team of the Humanitarian Aid Department. They met with Mayor Serhii Morhunov and discussed what humanitarian aid Switzerland can provide to Vinnytsia and Ukraine. After the meeting, the Swiss got acquainted with the work of the Interregional Coordination Humanitarian Headquarters and saw how it works.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine Claude Wild noted that earlier in the meetings with the Vinnytsia Mayor the issues of Vinnytsia development, construction and reconstruction were discussed. "Unfortunately, today we have a completely different meeting. My country is showing solidarity with Ukraine. Not only Switzerland, but also representatives of other countries are ready to support and defend democratic values together with you. Ukrainians pay a very high price, they pay with blood, defending our independence and freedom. We are ready to help Vinnytsia," said Claude Wild.

Mayor Serhii Morhunov spoke about the consolidation of Ukrainian society and the importance of supporting the world: "Today we see such support. I would like to thank the Government of Switzerland and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Claude Wilde for all that Switzerland is doing for Ukraine and for Vinnytsia," said Serhii Morhunov. "Cities like Vinnytsia are in the rear and help those cities where active hostilities are taking place."

Serhii Morhunov said that the Interregional Humanitarian Headquarters was established in Vinnytsia last week. "One of the tasks of the headquarters is to obtain and form strategic food supplies for internally displaced persons in Vinnytsia and Vinnytsia region. Currently, 22,000 such people are officially registered in the region, and 11,000 in Vinnytsia. In total, according to our data, there are 60,000 such displaced persons. We provide these people not only with food, but also with material assistance, provide them with employment opportunities, medical services, and educational services for children. Today in Vinnytsia, about 900 children of migrants have joined online learning in our schools."

The Mayor also noted that the Interregional Humanitarian Headquarters is engaged in the formation of humanitarian goods and sending them to cities that are on the brink of the surrounding by enemy or under bombardment: "Yesterday we sent 53 tons to Kharkiv. We send the help to Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Kyiv. When receiving any humanitarian aid at the level of local self-government, there is a 100% guarantee that this aid will reach the addressees."

The head of the assessment mission of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Division Beat Herger said that they plan to allocate 80 million Swiss francs to help Ukrainians. 20 of them are for the support of Ukrainians in Poland and Romania and 60 million for those in Ukraine. "Initially, our primary mission was to support migrants moving to Poland and Moldova. Today we are reformatting our work a bit and directly helping Ukrainians who are on the territory of Ukraine. We have two big projects: in Odesa and in Vinnytsia. We will start with food aid. For Vinnytsia, it is 1,700,000 Swiss francs."