Duda takes Ukrainian children with cancer to Italy on presidential plane

President of Poland Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, on a visit to Italy and the Vatican, took Ukrainian children with cancer on a presidential plane to Rome.

The children will undergo treatment at a pediatric clinic in Rome, Ukrinform reports, citing a publication released on Duda’s Facebook account.

"Ukrainian children, for whom cancer therapy was prepared by the Baby Jesus Paediatric Hospital in Rome, flew to Rome with us," Duda wrote.

He noted that the youngest passenger on their plane was Victoria, who was born two months before Russia's war against Ukraine.

"We prayed today at the tomb of St. John Paul II so that her name would be prophetic for her homeland," Duda wrote.

According to the Office of the President of Poland, a total of five children from Ukraine with their brothers and sisters and guardians were on board the presidential plane. Poland’s First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda later visited them in the hospital in Rome.

According to the Office of the President of Poland, Duda told Pope Francis during their meeting about the situation in Ukraine and invited him to visit Poland. The president of Poland said that it would be an opportunity to meet with two peoples – Polish and Ukrainian – given the large number of Ukrainians who found temporary shelter in Poland fleeing the war with Russia.

As reported, about 2.5 million Ukrainians have arrived in Poland since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Photo credit: https://www.prezydent.pl

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