Supporting Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
The delegation from the Fire and Rescue Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred as “the Department”), headed by the Director of the Department, Mr Renatas Požėla, visited Ukraine on 2–8 February 2025. The visit provided a possibility for the Lithuanian delegation to get acquainted with the activities of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU). Moreover, during this visit humanitarian aid was transported to Ukraine.
Fire and rescue vehicles as well as fire hoses, fire dividers, fire nozzles, couplings and 30 sets of protective clothing for rescuers were delivered to the SESU and donated to the Poltava District Regional Unit of the SESU.
The visit also aimed at implementing the Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Fund’s Project “Cooperation in the field of fire and rescue services for better preparation of candidate countries. Safety First!” (Project No. 2022-K-051) and the activities of the EU-funded Project “Development of strategies framework that incorporates the needs of persons with disabilities into whole disaster management cycle (prevention, preparedness, response and recovery)” (ENABLE-DMC, Project No. 101142028).
The Lithuanian delegation visited the central headquarters of the SESU, as well as regional units in Kyiv, Rivne, Lviv and the Lviv State University of Public Safety during the visit in Ukraine. They also were introduced to the activities of the SESU and their work under wartime conditions, implementation of the activities of the Project of the Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Fund for Development (Safety First!) and of the Project funded by the EU (ENABLE-DMC). Development of further cooperation was agreed in regard to the exchange of experience between the services and their experts.
The delegation also got acquainted with the work of local fire and rescue services and their technical equipment, visited emergency prevention units and Mobile Rescue Centre of Rapid Response.