Follow the liveblog about the war in Ukraine here
The European Parliament launched this Wednesday a campaign to collect, in the cities of the European Union (EU), generators and power transformers to help Ukrainians spend this winter, given the destruction of infrastructure by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Under the title of “Geradores de Esperança”, the campaign launched this day by the European Assembly together with the network of more than 200 largest cities in Europe, Eurocities, aims to “pick up power generators and transformers for Ukraine”, explained the leader of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, at a press conference.
Launched on the sidelines of the plenary session of the institution, in the French city of Strasbourg, the campaign is aimed at EU cities to, “in a very practical and concrete way, bring energy and clean water to hospitals and people and to guarantee daily services”, listed Roberta Metsola.
“I call on all cities, towns and regions across Europe to join the campaign,” urged the official, who also called for all 705 MEPs to join the initiative.
These generators will help keep the country’s essential facilities running, supplying energy to hospitals, schools, aqueducts, care centers, shelters, telephone poles, among others.
The initiative comes at a time when an estimated 10 million Ukrainians find themselves without power as a result of Russia’s attacks on critical civilian infrastructure, such as electricity transmission networks.
“This Parliament [Europeu] and the European Union have shown remarkable solidarity with Ukraine at the humanitarian, military and financial levels. now they need practical support for Ukrainians to get through the wintersaid Roberta Metsola.
Ukrainians make portable boilers to combat the harsh winter
The announcement comes on the day the European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, brought forward by the European Conservatives and Reformists political group (centre right).
Four PS MEPs abstained on the European Parliament resolution declaring Russia a “sponsor of terrorism”
The MEPs approved, in the plenary session of Strasbourg (France), a resolution that denounced as “acts of terror and war crimesa” Moscow’s attacks against Ukraine, that is, against civilian targets and infrastructure, the institution said in a statement.
Thus, the European Parliament classifies Russia as a State sponsor of terrorism that “uses methods of terrorism”, also calling for the adoption of a ninth package of sanctions against Moscow.
Four PS MEPs abstained on the European Parliament resolution declaring Russia a “sponsor of terrorism”
The resolution was approved by 494 votes in favor, 58 against and 44 abstentions.
Source: Observadora
