A composite detachment of 100 Ukrainian firefighters arrived in Greece on Friday, August 6, to help contain massive forest wildfires, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“In pursuance of the instructions of the President of Ukraine, a combined detachment of 100 Ukrainian firefighters arrived at the Athens airport. Experienced Ukrainian firefighters will help Greece contain massive forest wildfires. Ukraine is ready to help when our friends need it,” Kuleba said on Twitter.
In Greece, north of Athens, a 38-year-old man was reportedly killed by an electric pole that fell as a result of forest fires, local media reported on Friday, citing the Health Ministry. He became the first person killed by wildfires in this country this season.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has set a task for the government to send 100 Ukrainian firefighters to Greece to help extinguish forest fires.
“I set the task to the government to assist Greece in overcoming the devastating fires in some parts of the country. On Friday, the Cabinet of Ministers is to make a decision to send 100 of our experienced firefighters with the necessary equipment to help Greece,” the head of state said on Twitter on Friday night.
A total of 184 Ukrainian citizens, including 41 children, flew from Thessaloniki to Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
“As promised, we are returning the Ukrainians who are stuck in Greece,” Kuleba wrote on his Twitter account.
The foreign minister said that two more flights will take place soon.
“Good work of our diplomats in Greece with tour operators, Greek authorities and others involved,” Kuleba wrote.
The Greek travel company Mouzenidis Travel, headquartered in Thessaloniki, has suspended services for foreign tourists, including those from Ukraine.
In this regard, the resources of the diplomatic service were mobilized to provide assistance to Ukrainian tourists in Greece. It was reported that on June 25-26, flights should take place on the routes Thessaloniki-Kyiv, Thessaloniki-Lviv and Heraklion-Kyiv, which will be able to return to Ukraine over 500 citizens.
The Greek Ministry of Tourism has announced two important changes to the health protocols for tourists entering the country, European Truth said, citing Ekathimerini.
First, the Greek government has decided to allow travelers with a negative rapid test, and not just a PCR test, to enter the country.
Secondly, the minimum age at which children entering the country must provide documents confirming that they are not sick with coronavirus (COVID-19) has been increased. Now children under 12 years old are allowed to enter without such documents. Previously, it was allowed for children under six years old.
All these changes concern people arriving from countries for which it is allowed to travel to Greece and from Greece.
Those traveling to Greece are also given the option to show the EU vaccination certificate in digital or written form instead of a negative test result.
As of Friday, May 14, the Greek government did not make a decision on allowing Ukrainian citizens to enter the country for tourist purposes, the Ukrainian Embassy in Greece reported.
“As of May 14, 2021, the Greek government has not made a decision on the entry of Ukrainian citizens into Greece for tourist purposes!” the embassy said on its page on Friday.
The embassy informed that changes in the regime of entry of Ukrainian citizens to Greece will be immediately posted on the website and Facebook page of the Ukrainian Embassy in Greece.
As reported, in mid-April, the Greek authorities canceled the compulsory quarantine for travelers from the EU and the Schengen area. In addition, the quarantine was canceled for those entering from the UK, U.S., UAE, Serbia and Israel.
Alliance Energo Trade LLC (AET, Kyiv) on October 2 and October 8 accepted tankers from Greece and Italy with a cargo of 4,000 tonnes and 3,800 tonnes of bitumen in the port of Mykolaiv, the company has said on Facebook.
By the end of the active construction season, the company expects four more shipments of bitumen from Greece and Italy.
“This is our first experience in the supply of road bitumen by sea. By the end of the active construction season, we expect four more shipments from Greece and Italy. This will provide our partners with high quality bitumen in full,” the company said.
The AET said that in order to receive sea batches of bitumen, investment projects were implemented for the construction of an automobile overpass for loading in the port of Mykolaiv on the territory of the shipyard.
The unloading of the second tanker was attended by about 60 bitumen carriers of the company, which went to road construction sites in Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions.
Alliance Energo Trade was founded in 2012. Its ultimate beneficiary is Roman Adamov. The company operates in the field of international trading, large and small wholesale, delivering from Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, as well as through sea terminals.
