The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, met the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, this Friday in kyiv, indicates France Bleu Provence. Along with seven other mayors of major European cities, Benoît Payan ratified a memorandum of understanding for the sustainable reconstruction of Ukrainian cities. “From the end of the conflict“, the city of Marseille will send its marine firefighters there.
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“It’s an incredible meeting, in an incredible moment“, reacts Benoît Payan on France Bleu Provence. “I had never been to a country at war. You have to imagine what kyiv is like, what Ukraine is like, with checkpoints everywhere, carcasses of planes, tanks… And in the middle, an incredible presidential palace with sandbags everywhere and a president who stands tall, dignified and marked.”
I went to Ukraine to meet the President @ZelenskyyUa with 7 mayors from Europe to show Marseille’s unfailing solidarity with the Ukrainian people. pic.twitter.com/k8LycAy22p
— Benoit Payan (@BenoitPayan) August 19, 2022
Along with the Eurocities delegation, made up of the mayors of Athens, Florence, Helsinki, Lyon, Oslo, Riga and Tirana, Benoît Payan signed a memorandum of understanding for the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities. The objective is to establishrapid rehabilitation, ecological but also respectful of the rule of law and civil rights“, specifies the city of Marseille in a press release. “Ukraine will also be able to count on the battalion of marine firefighters from Marseille“, adds the chosen one.
A place kyiv will also soon be baptized in Marseille to celebrate a new exceptional twinning. Indeed, the two cities are committed to cooperating in the fields of civil security, culture and heritage, the construction of educational establishments, health and the promotion of peace. “The inhabitants of kyiv and Marseille are now brother peoples“, welcomes Benoît Payan.