Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

UKRAINE

Spain takes in 25 Ukraine children with cancer

Spain on Friday took in 25 Ukrainian children with cancer who will be able to continue their treatment after it was halted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government said.

Published: 12 March 2022 12:42 CET
Ukrainian children with cancer resting in a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022.
Children struggling with cancer are moved to the basement of the oncology centre used as a bomb shelter, in Kyiv on February 28, 2022. Spain has taken in 25 children from Ukraine to continue their cancer treatment. Photo: Aris Messinis / AFP

“A defence ministry flight has just landed carrying 25 Ukrainian children with cancer and their families, so they will be able to continue their treatment in Spain,” the government wrote on Twitter.

The military plane, which landed at an airfield in Madrid, was also carrying “another 22 displaced” Ukrainians who will be taken in by Spain, the defence ministry said, also on Twitter.

The children “will be treated in public hospitals specialising in treating child cancers,” said the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, which sponsored the children’s arrival in Spain alongside the Spanish Society for Paediatric Haematology and Oncology.

The federation said it was hoping to be able to bring more child cancer patients from Ukraine “in the coming days” along with their families who would be treated at hospitals in Barcelona, Valencia and Andalusia.

“These children need urgent medical care but also long-term treatment… we will offer all of our resources to these youngsters,” said its spokeswoman Carmen Menendez.

More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia began its military offensive against the country on February 24, the United Nations said on Friday.

READ ALSO: How Spain plans to house Ukrainian refugees

Member comments

  1. Good on Spain for taking in these refugees, this is the sort of help that Ukrainians desperately need from the EU.

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

UKRAINE

Spain against deploying EU troops to Ukraine

Spain on Tuesday said it was against any deployment of European troops in Ukraine after France's Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out sending Western soldiers.

Published: 27 February 2024 15:47 CET
Spain against deploying EU troops to Ukraine

“As to whether we are in favour of deploying European troops to Ukraine, we’ve already made our position clear and we do not agree,” said government spokeswoman Pilar Alegría.

“We must concentrate on the most urgent thing, which is to speed up the delivery of (military) equipment” to Kyiv, she said, saying “unity” was Europe’s “most effective weapon” against Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Macron triggered a shockwave late on Monday by refusing to rule out the dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.

“There is no consensus today to send ground troops… but nothing should be excluded. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war,” he said.

He refused to say more about France’s position, citing the need for “strategic ambiguity” but saying the issue was mentioned among the options”.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was quoted as saying some EU and NATO members were weighing the option.

“Many people who say ‘never, ever’ today were the same people who said ‘never tanks, never planes, never long-range missiles’ two years ago” when Russia invaded, said Macron. “Let us have the humility to note that we have often been six to twelve months late.”

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also rejected the idea of European or NATO countries sending troops to Ukraine.

SHOW COMMENTS