ZAGREB, 30 March 2022 - Caritas Croatia has dispatched two more lorries full of humanitarian aid to Kyiv, Oleksandrivsk, Mukachevo and Ivano-Frankivskin Ukraine, a press conference heard on Wednesday.

"This shipment includes many donations that people themselves have donated directly such as food, hygienic products, appliances in addition to other aid previously collected by Caritas organisations in the country", Caritas Croatia's deputy director Suzana Borko told the press conference.

She thanked everyone for their donations and in particular the Miroslav Krleža elementary school which itself suffered huge damage during the 2020 earthquake.

"The next load of aid will include medicines and other necessities required in the field", added Borko.

"So far two lorries have been sent to Ukraine and together with today's load that is 144 crates of food products, hygienic products, sleeping bags, blankets and various technical equipment and the donations are valued at HRK 1.6 million", she added.

Caritas Croatia has collected more than HRK 4 million 

Caritas Croatia organised a donation telephone line (060 9010) and has received more than 68,000 calls and so far Caritas Croatia has collected more than HRK 4 million for Ukraine, including HRK 1 million from the Croatian Conference of Bishops.

The president of the Office for Ecology with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Volodimir Šermeta joined the press conference via video link and said that the war against Ukraine's independence is bringing pain, suffering and death every day.

"You experienced a similar war with Serbia and there is no need to explain the consequences of bloody war", he said, adding that many of the victims are civilians, particularly women and children.

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ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Friday thanked his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Dendias for his country's aid to Croatia after last year's devastating earthquakes.

"I'm taking this opportunity to thank Minister Dendias for the generous and prompt humanitarian aid that Greece sent to earthquake-hit areas in Croatia," Grlić Radman said in Athens, where he arrived for an official visit a day after visiting Cyprus.

"Greece itself was recently hit by strong earthquakes and I'm conveying our support and willingness to help," he added.

Greece was struck by two tremors earlier this month, the strongest measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, which caused material damage but no fatalities.

Support for Croatia's membership bids

Grlić Radman also thanked Dendias for the Greek support for Croatia's accession to MED7, a group which comprises seven Mediterranean EU member states - Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

He also thanked Dendias for supporting Croatia's accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the euro and Schengen areas.

The two ministers underlined the importance of continuing EU enlargement to Southeast Europe and of Brussels having a consistent policy so that candidates do not lose the European perspective.

Grlić Radman cited Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is having a hard time managing the migrant crisis, and underlined solidarity with Greece, which is also on the front line of that "big political, security and economic problem."

The minister said they were pleased with the increase in Croatian-Greek trade, singling out the Greek company Avax, which is building access roads to the Pelješac Bridge in Croatia.

 For more about earthquakes in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.