Mayors of Warsaw and Lviv meet in the Polish capital

Andriy Sadovyi gifted Rafal Trzaskowski with a piece of a Russian rocket that had fallen in his city

Andriy Sadovyi, Mayor of Lviv visited his counterpart in Warsaw, as was reported yesterday. The occasion of the meeting was the plan for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian city after months of massive missile attacks by the Russian forces.

A city-to-city support

Although they have talked many times over the phone, the mayors of Warsaw and Lviv had never met in person before. The Ukrainian mayor arrived from Brussels, where he had been in talks with the Belgian government and the European Union about the implementation of the UNBROKEN rehabilitation project for the construction of a rehabilitation centre in Lviv.

According to the UNBROKEN website, Lviv has turned into a large humanitarian hub where people fleeing the war, including patients from front-line hospitals, are finding refuge and qualified medical assistance. However, before the project, a fully-fledged rehabilitation therapy centre had not been available in Ukraine, therefore, people had to go abroad. The objective is that Ukrainians could get treatment in a single facility.

According to Andriy Sadovyi, 11,000 people – including injured women, children, and elderly - have already arrived in Lviv. The centre is thus meant to provide them with prostheses, physical rehabilitation, and psychological support. The Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski declared his willingness to support the project.

Warsaw's help for Lviv so far includes aid for the cultural heritage of Lviv, through the establishment of the House of Reconstruction of Ukraine - a platform where problems related to the rescue and reconstruction of the destroyed monuments are discussed and planned. Also, upon the initiative of the local government and with the assistance of local associations, 58 power generators will be purchased to help locals survive the winter.

At the end of the meeting, the mayor of Lviv handed his Polish counterpart a piece of a Russian rocket that had fallen in Lviv. It was painted in cheerful colours, as a sign of steadfastness and victory, by children from the Lviv Hospital.

Finally, the city website reports that Warsaw has joined the global solidarity action "Lights for Ukraine". As part of the initiative, lighting of the most famous buildings is going out all over the world – including the Palace of Culture and Science in the Polish capital.