Belgium, Germany, Slovakia offer Ukraine over 35M masks and 24 ventilators

The assistance includes over 35 million protective masks, 24 ventilators, 10,000 of both protective suits and goggles.

“I want to thank EU member states for supporting Ukraine in the fight against COVID-19. We stand in full solidarity with our closest neighbours. Our Emergency Response Coordination Centre is monitoring the situation and is ready to help channel further support,” Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said.

The EU, via its Emergency Response Coordination Centre, is coordinating COVID-19 assistance to Ukraine.

As part of the recent assistance, Belgium offered 500,000 KN95 masks and 2 million surgical masks to Ukraine; Germany offered 25 million surgical masks, 7,977,000 FFP2 masks and 24 ventilators; and Slovakia offered 10,000 protective suits, 10,000 surgical masks, 10,000 FFP2 and 10,000 goggles.

Since the start of the pandemic, the EU has channelled assistance to help Ukraine with COVID-19. In 2020, a number of EU Member States sent support to Ukraine via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

In addition, in June 2020 Ukraine requested assistance due to floods and 4 EU Member States sent much needed support such as drones, diving equipment, boats, water pumps and tents. In 2016, EU Civil Protection Team was deployed to support Ukraine following an environmental disaster at the Solotvyno salt mine.

As of June 8, Ukraine recorded 1,602 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 2,216,654.

Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, which started on February 24, 1,241,008 people have been vaccinated, of which 147,118 people have received two doses.

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