For more than 8 months of war, every day we and the whole world see terrible images of the war in Ukraine, and we end up getting used to it. It is for this reason that the work of parliamentarians, ministers and other heads of state visiting Ukraine is important. Seeing for themselves the daily life of the people there makes it possible to realize that the war is not over and that Ukraine continues to need the help and support of Europe and the world. Supporting this initiative, the head of the non-profit organization Promote Ukraine, Marta Barandiy, accompanied the Belgian MP, Georges Dallemagne, who traveled to Ukraine for a working visit.
“We made a week-long visit to Ukraine with Georges Dallemagne and two journalists to show life in Ukraine in towns and small villages, reminding us that winter is coming and hard times lie ahead.
First, our trip started from Lviv. There we met the mayor and the governor of the region and spoke with our soldiers at the military hospital. Then we went to Kyiv, Kharkiv, we also went to Irpin and Izyum. We communicated with people, we saw the consequences of the “work” of the Russian invaders…
From the very beginning, our trip began to “harden” us, when before the meeting in Lviv the siren began to sound and we had to wait several hours in the air-raid shelter. But then the pictures were even worse, when we got to Irpin I noticed that there was not a single building in which there was no broken window.
During our visit, Georges constantly communicated with Ukrainians from Lviv to Izyum, and he asked people this question, which may seem strange, “How do you expect this war to end?” What impressed me the most was the people’s response to this question, everyone answered the same way all over Ukraine: “We are waiting for Ukraine to win, and if there is no ‘There’s no victory, so we don’t need our lives! This demonstrates the indomitable will of the Ukrainians, which can only inspire.
I think we fulfilled our mission on this trip, because Georges Dallemagne returned to Belgium with a ‘cry’ to his colleagues and to the Prime Minister to increase aid to Ukraine.”
Belgium is one of the two countries, along with Hungary, which had not yet sent a government official to Ukraine.
Update: on the 26th of November Prime Minister of Belgium and the Minister of Foreign Affairs went to Kyiv for the first time since the beginning of Russian aggression.
Source: https://www.rtbf.be/article/marta-barandyi-et-georges-dallemagne-en-ukraine-11101129
