Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias announced the sending of humanitarian aid to Mariupol, which he intends to accompany, after his meeting with the Greek Consul General in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, who returned to Greece on Sunday after a difficult rescue operation.
Dendias also announced the decoration of Androulakis, as well as Ambassador Frangiskos Kostelenos and the Consul General of Greece in Odessa Dimitris Dochtsis.
“I ask today by sending an official note to the Ukrainian side to facilitate the Russian side with another note not to hinder the sending of humanitarian aid to Mariupol. I intend to accompany this mission in person, in coordination with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Mauer, with whom we are already in contact,” said Dendias.
“Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine continues unabated. The priority of the Greek government is to protect our homogeneity, but also the civilian population,” he said.
For this reason, he also announced that a coordination and reception team will be established in Bucharest, headed by Kostelenos, and with the participation of the Ambassador to Bucharest Sofia Grammata, Dochtsis, and Androulakis, who will depart soon.
Moreover, as he recalled, he stressed the need to protect the civilian population through his speech yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels and during his private meeting with High Representative Josep Borrell, from whom he asked to make public statements on Mariupol.
“Greece will continue to be present in the region. In an area where the Greek element has been established for centuries,” said Dendias and stressed that “the first step, when things return to normalcy, will be the reconstruction of the maternity hospital of Mariupol. And from then on, our coordination with the EU to do everything we can to return to its previous state and to make it easier for our diaspora to return to normality after the tragedy.”
