Fishing nets from France’s Brittany to shield Kherson region from drones, regional chief says

Head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin told an Ukrinform correspondent about this on the sidelines of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

“When we previously spoke online with French representatives, we described our problems with drones and explained how we’re building protective tunnels. But we never asked them for help. Local people in the ports organized themselves with volunteer groups and began collecting nets for us — nets that had already served their time at sea,” said the Kherson governor.

According to him, the first batch of fishing nets, which residents of Brittany sent at their own expense, has already reached Lviv and will be forwarded to Kherson. This story, he added, has accelerated the development of closer ties between the two regions.

“They used to be less open to dialogue, but now we’ve made real progress. We agreed that once their local parliament approves the corresponding decision, I will sign a partnership agreement with its president, Loïg Chesnais-Girard,” Prokudin explained.

During a meeting in Paris, the leaders also agreed on further exchanges.

“There are two main areas of cooperation. The first is providing recreation for children who have returned from occupation — the abducted children. We have now brought back 650 children from Russia, all from Kherson region — they were taken to the Russian Federation from orphanages. In the city of Kherson alone, 12 families are now living with children who were returned. The second initiative is organizing a Ukraine Week in Brittany this December — it will include various exhibitions, and we may also send our Mykola Kulish Drama Theater there,” the regional head shared.

As reported by Ukrinform, Kherson region is ready to share with European countries its experience in civil protection during wartime.

Photos provided by Oleksandr Prokudin