Status: 01/20/2023 05:00 a.m
Ukraine between destruction and the will to rebuild: Development Minister Schulze visited Odessa in Ukraine on Thursday and pledged 52 million euros in aid.
The armored vehicle with the guest from Germany is supposed to drive up in a few minutes. Suddenly the siren wails long and continuously as a sign of the all-clear. The air alert in Ukraine has been lifted. Then the column of the German development minister rolls up.
Svenja Schulze is on the road in southern Ukraine for a good ten hours on Thursday. It can only be reported on today, the day after. This is how the Ukrainian authorities decided for security reasons.
places of destruction
The German minister says about her trip:
In the middle of the war, we are rebuilding Ukraine into a free, independent Ukraine.
Schulze sees places of destruction, but above all places where courageous action is taken. She visits a substation that has been hit by rockets twice in the past few weeks. The craters are not filled in yet. It is just more urgent to ensure that the system is running.
The first stop is the small community of Starokozache – not far from the border with Moldova. There are currently 500 internally displaced persons for every 10,000 inhabitants. According to the International Organization for Migration, there are a total of 5.9 million people in Ukraine who are fleeing in their own country.
childhood at war
A school was made the focal point. In the auditorium, directly below a small stage, there are long rows of cots. On one table are colorful boards that children can use to learn how to multiply, on another a coloring book with an English title and the Ukrainian children’s magazine “Wonder World” are next to each other. The issue is from August 2010 and is entitled “Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends”. It’s a read that might be a little distracting.
“100 percent of the children in Ukraine are affected by this war,” reported Letizia Dell’Asin from UNICEF when the minister later visited a children’s project in Odessa. The problems are manifold: mental health or lack of access to education. In the small community of Starokozache, the supply of electricity and heat keeps failing. And that’s what the school is like, what we would probably call a warm room.
Schulze learns from the mayor that they are talking about a “point of inflexibility”. She is impressed by the “resilience” of the population: “To have bomb attacks here, to be in the shelter, to go out and carry on, you need an incredible amount of willpower for that.” And shortly afterwards she sees how the children go calmly and disciplined into the bunker under the auditorium when there is an air raid.
52 million euros in additional aid
According to the minister, the aid from Germany is arriving. You can see that here in the school: among other things, a light pole, water tanks, power generators, sleeping bags and blankets. During her visit, Schulze promised an additional 52 million euros for Ukraine. This is intended to support electricity and medical supplies. The money should also help municipal administrations.
Reconstruction and war go hand in hand. On the way to Odessa, the streets are lined with the military, checkpoints and anti-tank barriers. But not far away there is also construction: high-rise settlements, wind turbines. The massive components for this are delivered to the port. At the time of the visit, the Ukrainian security forces are meticulously ensuring that no recordings are made that could give Russia indications of attacks on this critical infrastructure.
The fact that grain can be shipped is good for the recipient countries, but also for the Ukrainian economy. But it could be more, as Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov Schulze reports. 80 ships are currently stuck in traffic on the Bosporus. Kubrakov is also in charge of reconstruction. He is asked how long that could take. His answer sounds confident: with exceptions, i.e. companies with highly complicated technology, he estimates that most of the destroyed objects could be rebuilt “within two years”.
Schulze’s journey took ten hours. She came to find out about the reconstruction. But even she cannot escape the topic of arms deliveries and the course of the federal government. The first question asked by a Ukrainian reporter at the press conference at the port was about the Leopard main battle tanks. The guest from Germany describes and welcomes the Chancellor’s course. Deputy Prime Minister Kubrakov next to her is unlikely to have been convinced.