Polish MP Małgorzata Gosiewska and Roman Chraniuk, a member of the Polish band “Taraka” have recently returned from the ATO zone. They delivered humanitarian supplies, collected by the Open Dialog Foundation, to Stanytsia Luhanska and to the checkpoint no. 29; Chraniuk also donated his own car.
On February 3, 2015, at 11:30, they took part in a press briefing entitled “ATO: the last stand of European security”, held in the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre.
Małgorzata Gosiewska has been supporting Ukraine since the very beginning of the Revolution of Dignity – at Maidan meetings as well as at the sessions of the Polish Sejm. Roman Chraniuk and his band Taraka played in the ATO zone in December.
Nobody in the East of Ukraine has seen any supplies from international organisations. Everything that the locals and the army have was provided by Ukrainian volunteers. The civil society of Ukraine is passing yet another exam. And what is Europe doing? What is Poland doing? I feel ashamed when I hear that this war is only a Ukrainian problem. We felt the same in 1920, 1939 and 1944. But Polish people must have forgotten their own history. I meet a lot of Ukrainians and they thank us all the time. However, I think that the support provided by Polish state institutions is insufficient, since it is limited to slogans and words while no concrete things are being done. I believe that Ukraine needs both military and humanitarian assistance. Medical assistance is something we can organise on our own. As soon as I return to Poland, I will set about creating a non-party group for helping Ukraine. Polish politicians have to be reminded that Ukraine is struggling for us as well – said Malgorzata Gosiewska at the briefing.
Roman Chraniuk shared his story:
A year ago, Taraka was on the Maidan, the band saw the eyes of Ukrainians, felt their energy, experienced the Maidan together with them. Now, as the patriotic duties are accompanied by woe and death every day, Ukraine certainly cannot be left alone. In December, Taraka played in the ATO zone, and I promised to return with humanitarian supplies. So when I found out that one of the things that the ATO combatants need the most are cars, I got into my car and drove it to the East. I returned by train. Vehicles are necessary for transporting wounded people, for evacuation or just quick transportation: a car is equal to a life. This is the appeal that we’ll address to the Polish people: sacrifice your car so that somebody doesn’t have to sacrifice their life. The very next day, after I left my car there, it was used to transport a combatant who had been wounded by a mine splinter.
The participants of the conference also thanked the Kyiv area defence battalion no. 12 for providing protection.
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Małgorzata Gosiewska is a Polish politician, a member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland for the Law and Justice Party and a member of the Sejm Foreign Affairs Committee. She deals with eastern European issues. At the 2014 European Parliament election, her candidacy was backed by Mikheil Saakashvili. She spent a lot of time at the Maidan in Kyiv and regularly took part in the Euromaidan rallies in Warsaw. As the conflict escalated in the East, she started to visit the ATO zone, delivering humanitarian supplies. She has repeatedly and emphatically spoken in support of Ukraine in its struggle for the European development direction.
Roman Chraniuk is a Polish musician of Ukrainian descent, a member of a Polish-Ukrainian band Taraka. He played at Maidan with his band and became famous for his song Podaj Rękę Ukrainie (Hold out your hand to Ukraine). Roman participated in Euromaidan rallies in Warsaw. Two weeks ago, he drove his car to the ATO zone before donating it to the Ukrainian army.