The Ukrainian ambassador emphasized that “it is impossible to understand what these children experienced, who in the first weeks of the Russian war faced the brutality of the Russian occupying soldiers.
In total 600 children from Ukraine they will come to Greece for holidays and will be accommodated in camps throughout the country, following an offer by the Panhellenic Union of Private Initiative Camp Operators.
The first group consisted of 117 children, aged from six to 15 years old, and their 22 companions, from Buka, Ukraine, crossed the Greek border from Promahonas last night and were hosted for one night in the structure of Sintiki. Coaches of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have taken over their internal movements in Halkidiki, Attica and Peloponnese.
This afternoon the children arrived in Athens and outside the building of the Hellenic Parliament they were welcomed by the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Sofia Voultepsi, and the Ambassador of Ukraine, Sergey Sutenko.
“It is not in our power to end the war, nor to erase from children’s souls the trauma left by the loss, the destruction, the violence of the war. What we can offer is a few moments of joy and carelessness to put a positive memory in such harsh images, which so brutally traumatized their tender age and a small stone to build the promise of a strong friendship for their life in a peaceful future for which we are fighting”, pointed out the Deputy Minister, Sofia Vultepsi, during their reception.
The Ukrainian ambassador underlined that “it is impossible to understand what these children experiencedwho in the first weeks of the Russian war faced the brutality of the Russian occupying soldiers.
For six months now, their parents, like all of Ukraine, have been fighting for the freedom and peaceful future of our homeland. Two weeks without war may not be a long time, but I am absolutely sure that the warmth and love, which the children have had in Greece from the first moment, will help restore their faith for the future.”
Present at the reception of the children were the special secretary for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors of the Ministry of Immigration, Iraklis Moskov, the consul of the Ukrainian embassy, ​​Anna Tisenko, the head of the International Organization for Migration in Greece, Gianluca Rocco, and the president of the Panhellenic Union of Private Camp Operators Initiative, Panagiotis Bardakis.
Those children who will be accommodated in camps in Halkidiki arrived directly in Thessaloniki, where they were welcomed by the Deputy Minister of Macedonia-Thrace, Stavros Kalafatis, in the presence of the president of TIF, Tasos Tzikas.
Two other groups of children will follow on August 12 and 17while it is noted that the Greek Police escorts the coaches on their routes.
As stated in the relevant announcement of the Ministry of Immigration, the general coordination of the project is the Deputy Minister of Immigration, while for its successful organization the Ministry collaborated with the Embassy of Ukraine in Greece, the Secretary General of Reception of Asylum Applicants, Manos Logothetis, the IOM, the European Asylum Organization, and the authorities of the former district and current military administration of Butsa.
It is noted that the IOM secured the financing of the domestic movements required in cooperation with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).
Upon the arrival of the buses in Promahonas, the children were subjected to a rapid test and a pediatric examination by the EODY and the Hellenic Red Cross, while volunteers from the NGO SolidarityNow offered interpretation services.
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