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)
An intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of demining was signed on Tuesday in Zagreb by First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko and Vice Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Croatia Davor Božinović in the presence of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reports.
“Ukraine is very grateful to the Croatian people and the Croatian government for the political, military, financial and humanitarian support that our country and Ukrainians have received since the beginning of the large-scale invasion… And today, Ukraine needs Croatia’s experience in demining and reconstruction and rehabilitation,” Svyrydenko said during a conversation with Plenkovic.
She also thanked Croatia for the programs aimed at rehabilitation of Ukrainian defenders and children of Ukrainian soldiers.
Speaking during the signing of the agreement on cooperation in the field of demining, Svyrydenko noted that Croatian-made demining machines are already operating in Ukrainian fields, and in the summer, Ukrainian and Croatian manufacturers agreed to localize the production of such machines in Ukraine.
“Today we are strengthening our cooperation. The intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in demining launches a new stage of cooperation between governments, experts, demining specialists, and manufacturers of both countries,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister.
The agreement envisages cooperation in the following areas: non-technical and technical survey, demining, and territory clearance; public education on the risks associated with explosive ordnance; assistance to mine victims; and development of a regulatory framework and standard procedures in the field of mine action.
In addition, it provides for trainings for specialists, exchange of experience among experts and teachers in training demining specialists, transfer of expert knowledge and best practices; exchange of knowledge on the production of protective equipment, mine detection and demining equipment, and training and certification of mine-sniffing dogs.
During the meeting in Zagreb, the parties also discussed strengthening cooperation between the countries in the economic sphere and in the area of reconstruction.
