As long as Ukraine needs humanitarian assistance as a consequence of this brutal war of aggression by Russia, we will be with you - EU Humanitarian Aid director

Exclusive interview with the Director for Neighborhood the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) at the European Commission ANDREAS PAPACONSTANTINOU to the Interfax-Ukraine agency

Text: Valerie Proshchenko

The EU official who is responsible for the Union’s humanitarian assistance to Ukraine told us about further support, implemented projects, and challenges in conducting operations

What is the aim of your latest visit to Ukraine? Where and what meetings were held? And could you, please, elaborate on the work of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)‘s in Ukraine?

This is my fourth visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale aggression. My mission aimed to assess the humanitarian needs, the priorities, and the overall humanitarian response. I met with the authorities, including Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk. Also, I met the relevant parliamentary committee and the local authorities, such as Viacheslav Chaus, the head of the regional state administration. Of course, we met with the UN team and the key embassies. We met with local NGOs also because one of our priorities is to promote our cooperation with local actors in the context of what we call the “localization agenda”.

Together my team and I also had an opportunity to visit the area of Chernihiv, where we are present with some of our humanitarian projects, in the areas of shelters, education in emergencies, social support, etc.

We are from the humanitarian arm of the European Union, so our mandate is to implement humanitarian programs through our certified