Ghent, Arezzo, Hannover, Rome and Poznan are among the latest Eurocities member cities to send power generators and electrical equipment to Ukraine, as part of the Generators of Hope Campaign launched jointly between the President of the European Parliament and Eurocities last November.
In total, Ghent is sending 14 generators, 11 of which were collected by the city itself. The Fire Department of Ghent donated two generators, and another model that is suitable for sensitive electronic equipment such as computers and smartphones was donated by a private company.
??The City of Ghent collected 14 generators to provide Ukrainian citizens, schools and hospitals with energy equipment during winter. The action is part of the #GeneratorsOfHope campaign launched by @EUROCITIES and @Europarl_EN
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?https://t.co/gnVeW0Jjwr pic.twitter.com/jSHZeitLDU— Ghent International (@ghentinternatio) January 27, 2023
In January, the City of Arezzo was able to deliver a 40Kw generator to the city of Sambir through its sister city of Oswiecim, which took care of the last mile delivery to Sambir, further building on a relationship that was forged last April when an ambulance, driven by Mayor Ghinelli, first delivered supplies from the Italian city.
We responded to the #generatorsofhope initiative that @EUROCITIES together with the @Europarl_EN promoted to donate electricity generators to Ukrainian cities for use in schools, hospitals and other sensitive public places. pic.twitter.com/SWpt2UQlbj
— Alessandro Ghinelli (@sindacoghinelli) January 2, 2023
Meanwhile, Mayor Onay of Hannover has signed a cooperation agreement with the mayor of Mykolaiv, a city that has been on the front lines since the start of this war, and where half of the 480,000 inhabitants have been forced to flee. In addition to sending more than 10 power generators, Hannover has sent 10 vehicles, including ambulances, and delivery vans to the war ravaged city, as well as other much needed equipment, such as hand-held fire extinguishers and first aid kits.
In part, Hannover’s actions have been the beneficiary of a programme of the Federal Government managed by the German Agency for International Cooperation, which aims to procure technical material centrally. Thirty cities participated in the first round of the programme in 2022, and 50 are anticipated to join the next round.
Eurocities members working across borders
In Italy, Florence has acted as the national logistics centre for cities in the generators of hope campaign, including the city of Rome, which recently sent two high capacity generators to be transferred to the EU hub in Romania.
Poznan has been working closely with its sister city Kharkiv since the beginning of the war, including by sending power generators and heating equipment. In January, following a direct request from Kharkiv, this partnership saw Poznan donate nearly €64,000 in power grid repair equipment to help Kharkiv focus on repairing critical infrastructure.
Since the beginning of the war, Poznan, in collaboration with Caritas, has already sent trucks carrying aid several times. Among other things, these trucks notably included food for children and babies, hygienic goods, medicines and dressing materials.
In early January, 17 generators from Tallinn arrived in the Zhytomyr Region of Ukraine to be divided between different municipalities. In total 14 are from the City of Tallinn and 3 from the Estonian Association of Cities and Municipalities, following a joint procurement process previously reported on these pages. In total, the plan is to send 54 generators to Zhytomyr, with the remaining 37 being delivered in the coming months.
Leipzig has similarly continued its strong collaboration with its sister city Kyiv, by procuring €100,000 worth of mobile generators to be used in schools, public buildings, so-called mobile heat centres, or as power supply for water pumps.
Due to the ongoing attack on civil infrastructure in Ukraine, power outages continue to occur frequently in many cities and the continued dedication of other European cities to finding ways to support their Ukrainian counterparts is essential to delivering dignity, warmth and support to Ukrainian people as we approach one year of war.
Want to find out more about the Generators of Hope campaign? Take a look here.
