site.btaLabour and Social Policy Minister Proposes Rehabilitation in Bulgaria for Children Injured in Ukraine Hospital Strike

Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Ivanov proposed  that children who survived the missile strike on Ukraine's largest children's hospital be supported for recovery and rehabilitation in holiday facilities in Bulgaria. He discussed the possibility of providing concrete assistance in a telephone conversation with Olesya Ilashchuk, Ukraine's Ambassador to Bulgaria, the Labour and Social Policy Ministry said in press release on Tuesday.

Ivanov expressed sympathy with the victims and families of the victims of the devastating attack on the children's hospital in Kiev on July 8, 2024. "We have never been indifferent to the difficult fate of the children of Ukraine" he said.

The possibility for children affected by the hostilities in Ukraine to stay in Bulgaria was already discussed by Minister Ivanov and Ambassador Ilashchuk during their meeting in Sofia on June 28. 

"We are already arranging for 50 children and their accompanying persons affected by the war to be hosted at the facilities of Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recreation EAD, which can offer professional support and appropriate conditions for their recovery and rehabilitation. I now propose that the first groups of Ukrainian children, who are set to come to Bulgaria, should also include those who survived the attack on the children's hospital," Ivanov elaborated. He noted that the children's holiday could be supplemented with health and psychological therapy to alleviate as much as possible the psychological and physical trauma inflicted on them.

Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk thanked for the sympathy and willingness to provide support. Concrete actions for the implementation of the discussed measures to help Ukrainian children will be specified in the coming days.