Ever since Kyiv was designated a guest city for next year's La Mercè festivities, Barcelona and the capital of Ukraine have maintained close ties. In recent months, the mayor of the capital of that country, Vitaliy Klischko, has visited Barcelona twice: in September during the holidays and in November, although a Russian missile attack on his city precipitated Klischko's return. Now Mayor Ada Colau responds to her invitation with a flying visit to Kyiv.
It will be a single day but intense and without pause. The small group from Barcelona left this Thursday and entered the Ukraine late in the afternoon to reach the capital by train. The director of the Barcelona Bombers, Sebastià Massagué, accompanies the mayoress. The visit, which has had the collaboration and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy in Ukraine, will start at eleven in the morning with a meeting with the mayor of Kyiv in the Town Hall. The schedule is tight. An hour later, both will attend the media and at 1:00 p.m. a tour is scheduled to begin with which Vitaliy Klischko will show the Barcelona delegation the destruction caused by the Russian invasion.
In the early afternoon, a visit to the Kyiv fire department has been scheduled, specifically to the section that has received the vehicles and specialized material that Barcelona has sent in recent months.
As a result of Barcelona's invitation to Kyiv, the two cities signed a collaboration and friendship agreement and the Barcelona Bombers have maintained a constant relationship with the Ukrainian capital, where two specialized vehicles have been deployed and equipment and material have also been sent necessary for extinguishing fires and rescuing people, as well as sanitary material. During this Friday's session, Colau will explain how this collaboration will be expanded.
