Croatia will provide another EUR 5 million for the Ukrainian energy sector, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said following a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
“Mr. Plenkovic announced a new package of military assistance and another EUR 5 million for the Ukrainian energy sector. Ukraine highly appreciates all the assistance provided by Croatia. Thank you for supporting our country in all spheres,” Shmyhal wrote on his Telegram channel.
In addition, he said that the countries had signed two documents in the field of education and justice, which will contribute to Ukraine’s further European integration.
Among other things, the prime minister said that on Wednesday, the Croatian demining company DOK-ING opened its representative office in Ukraine.
Croatia will host 100 children of wounded and killed Ukrainian soldiers for rehabilitation in the fall.
According to the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Split (Croatia) Ivica Pirić, Croatia has been organizing recreation for Ukrainian children by the sea since 2015 with the organizational support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Croatia and the Prime Minister of Croatia. Over the 9 years of the program, which is funded by the Ivica Pirić Foundation, 3.5 thousand Ukrainian children and 400 combatants have visited the seaside city of Split in Croatia.
“In 1991-1995, Croatia went through a war in which more than 20 thousand people died and thousands of soldiers became disabled. Much of Croatia’s territory was mined, and cities and towns were heavily damaged. Many IDPs had to go through a difficult period of reintegration. Croatia has extensive experience in treating and rehabilitating military personnel and treating post-traumatic stress disorders in children. The current generation of Croats, including government officials, are children of war, and they are very close to the problems that Ukraine is facing today, so we want to help. The least we can do is to give a holiday by the sea to the children of Ukrainian heroes who are defending Ukraine’s independence,” Pirić said.
In October 2023, Ukraine and Croatia signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of demining, which provides for training of specialists, surveying of territories, their demining and clearing, and exchange of experience in the production of demining equipment. According to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Croatian demining machines are operating in Ukraine, and in mid-2023, Ukrainian and Croatian manufacturers agreed to localize the production of such machines in Ukraine.
Pirić is a Croatian footballer who has been working as a FIFA agent since his retirement. Since 2016, he has been the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Croatia. Pirić helps wounded Ukrainian soldiers and children affected by military operations.
Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP) Rostislav Karandeyev discussed with the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Ukraine Anica Dzhamic the preservation of cultural heritage amid ongoing Russian aggression, the press service of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reported.
“The discussion focused on the needs of Ukraine in the field of preservation of cultural heritage suffering from Russian aggression, return of cultural values, protection of intangible cultural heritage. It was also about cooperation within the framework of UNESCO activities,” the report said.
Karandeev spoke about the challenges facing Ukraine. Among them, in particular, the preservation of cultural heritage and people of the cultural sphere. He thanked the Croatian government for financial and material assistance to Ukrainian citizens who will continue to need it because of Russia’s aggression.
“We would like our citizens to keep in touch with their country and not lose their Ukrainian identity. It is important to create favorable conditions for this,” said Karandeev.
Also, the head of the Ministry of Culture emphasized the need for Ukraine to create a depository for the preservation of evacuated museum values and emphasized the value of Croatian experience in this matter. He also proposed to intensify cultural cooperation: the organization of Ukrainian exhibitions, tours, film screenings in Croatia, as well as the creation of conditions for learning the Ukrainian language and support for book publishing, translations of Ukrainian authors into Croatian.
In addition, the parties discussed the problems of preservation of intangible cultural heritage, in particular, the Greeks of the Azov region.
In turn, the Croatian Ambassador offered to hold an online meeting with the responsible persons in the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia on the preservation of cultural heritage, and reiterated support for Ukraine.
“Croatia has been with Ukraine since the first days of the war, primarily because of its own experience of the war it lived through. Our experience helps Ukraine to more quickly master the processes that await it, as well as to avoid mistakes that the country may make out of inexperience,” said the Ambassador.
Speaking at the Dubrovnik Forum on Saturday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković assured of continued support for Ukraine and recalled the assistance already provided to Kyiv in various areas.
In his speech, Plenković pointed to the negative consequences for Europe and the world of the Covid-19 pandemic, “prolonged by Russian aggression against Ukraine, which has devalued the importance of international law and fundamental principles.”
“On behalf of the Croatian government, I would like to once again express my support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, the President, the entire government and thank Minister Kuleba for coming to Dubrovnik today,” the Croatian prime minister said.
He emphasized that there is unity in support of Ukraine among a huge number of countries. Thus, Plenković recalled the recent Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, where, as he noted, about a hundred international organizations and countries were represented, supporting the project of finding a peaceful solution to the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine, rather than a solution that would reward the aggressor and thus send a negative signal to other potential aggressors.
“Croatia is helping Ukraine in the political, diplomatic, technical, humanitarian, economic and military spheres, and we will continue to provide all forms of support. Especially given our specific interests in the investigation of war crimes, in humanitarian demining, which we have been facing for 30 years and which we will complete only in March 2026,” Plenković emphasized.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has confirmed his participation in the Peace Summit in Switzerland, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following a conversation with the head of the Croatian government.
“I congratulated him on his appointment as Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and expressed gratitude for Croatia’s continued support for Ukraine. I also thanked Prime Minister Plenkovic for confirming his participation in the Peace Summit in Switzerland,” Zelenskyy wrote in a telegram on Monday.
The parties also discussed Croatia’s support for the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and the possibility of joining the G7 Vilnius Declaration of Support for Ukraine.
Croatia has held the first meeting of the parliament elected in the April 17 elections. Gordan Jandrokovic was elected speaker, with 144 out of 151 deputies voting for his candidacy, the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list reports. Gondar Jandroković represents the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Commonwealth) party and became the speaker of the Croatian parliament for the third time.
“It is an extraordinary honor to be trusted for the third time to fulfill the duties of the Croatian Parliament. We are living in a dangerous historical period: the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, we cannot avoid the fact that the neighborhood is also a potential source of instability, we are facing the challenges of climate change, disruptions in global supply chains,” Jandroković said.
After several weeks of negotiations, a coalition was formed in the parliament, which included the HDZ and the Fatherland Movement parties. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the new government’s program of activities was being finalized.
At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Croatian parliament and government expressed support for Ukraine, granting it EU candidate status and providing economic support.
Sources:
www.jutarnji.hr (https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/plenkovic-komentirao-nove-ministre-susnjara-sam-tek-upoznao-ppd-pitao-sam-ga-vidjet-cemo-15461328)
