Since February 24, 2022, the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine with all its consequences for the country and the whole world has been the focus of our attention and concern. The effects of the war are also felt here in Erlangen. Not only did we succeed in setting up structures to take in refugees as early as the beginning of March with the great support of volunteers - we are currently offering refuge to around 1,500 people from Ukraine - but a large number of projects have also been set up on the ground, right through to aid transports to the war zone. A whole network of clubs and associations - first and foremost the Association of Ukrainians in Franconia and Bridges - take care of integration issues.
Soon after the war began, the idea of establishing contact with a city in Ukraine was born. Soon also the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development suggested to establish German-Ukrainian solidarity partnerships and to provide funds for it, which Erlangen has also already taken up. Finally, in recent weeks, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and his colleague, Volodymyr Selenskyj, made an urgent appeal to German municipalities and counties to establish cooperation with Ukraine at the local level.
Erlangen and Jena, meanwhile, had already made contact in early summer 2022 with Browary, a town of 100.000-inhabitants city in the proximity of Kiev, taken up and then in the autumn together the resolution seized, with the Ukrainian municipality a solidarity partnership to enter, which is to become active first mainly within the range of the humanitarian assistance, as soon as possible in addition, the civil exchange to take up. Browary, as its name suggests, is characterized by brewing, but before the war it was also distinguished by a diverse structure of commerce and industry and is home to a training center for sports where, among others, the Klitschko brothers trained.
Browary came under heavy fire from the Russian army in March 2022 and is home - as of December 2022 - to some 20,000 internally displaced persons. Worst of all are the outages of electricity, water and district heating due to Moscow's massive attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, which hit the greater Kiev area particularly hard.