The cooperation between Helsinki and Dnipro began in December 2023 with the aim of providing concrete support to the Ukrainian partner city. The key themes of the cities’ partnership are education, activities for children and young people, city planning, security, preparedness and good governance.
The City of Helsinki has been looking into what kinds of materials and equipment it could donate to Dnipro, which is located south of Kyiv. Out of the materials and equipment deemed suitable for donation, the City has assembled an aid package for Dnipro, which is being delivered in multiple lots via the EU civil protection mechanism during the spring and summer. The coordination of the civil protection mechanism in Finland is handled by the Ministry of the Interior’s Department for Rescue Services.
The aid package includes furniture for school classrooms and daycare centres, health care and trauma supplies, equipment, vehicles, physiotherapy equipment, professional clothing and equipment related to civil defence shelters.
A unique donation from Stara
The first lot of the aid package dispatched in the spring includes site huts, maritime containers and an earth moving machine donated by Helsinki City Construction Services Stara. The containers and the earth moving machine were loaded onto large truck trailers for transport.
“The containers and the machine will be transported to the EU civil protection mechanism's intermediate warehouse in Poland, from where they will be shipped to Dnipro,” says Special Planning Officer Outi Jäppinen from the City of Helsinki.
Finland has donated approximately EUR 20 million worth of material assistance to Ukraine from various sectors, such as the health care, rescue services and energy sectors.
“The insulated and electrified site huts and earth moving machine donated by Stara are a particularly notable donation in the sense that they can meet various wartime needs in Ukraine,” says Jäppinen.
The donations to Dnipro are aimed at supporting the war-torn city.
“We would like to thank our Finnish friends for the supplies and equipment delivered to the City of Dnipro. We value our partnership and are always grateful for all support. Every good deed provides moral support for our people, who continue to live in constant terror amid the war launched by Russia. The support we have received is proof that, despite everything, we are not alone in this fight,” says Mayor of Dnipro Borys Filatov.
Helsinki donated thousands of pieces of used furniture
June saw the dispatch of another lot of the aid package containing used furniture donated by the City of Helsinki Education Division.
“We inspected and cleaned thousands of pieces of furniture and packed them on a total of 440 EUR-pallets. Organising the one-and-a-half-week packaging operation was no mean feat, but by working together, we managed to send the furniture on its way,” says Planning Officer Johanna Laakso from Premises Services, who participated in the condition inspection and cleaning of the furniture.