On November 28-29, an international delegation of the Order of Malta, led by the Grand Hospitaller Fra’ Alessandro de Franciscis, visited the Berehove relief unit of the Order in Ukraine. It included the Ambassador of the Order to Hungary, the presidents of the German, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian national associations, the Secretary general of Malteser International, a representative of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order, and, from Ukraine, the counselor of the Embassy of the Order to Ukraine, the head of Malteser Ukraine, and the heads of Malteser Ivano-Frankivszk and of Berehove.
The objective was for the Grand Hospitaller and the Presidents of the associations in neighboring countries to see first-hand the work of the Malteser services in Ukraine, and to assess how to improve the services provided to the population suffering from the consequences of the war. Special attention was paid to logistics and its potential for international deployment by the Order of Malta.
The program began on November 28 in Budapest, with a strategic meeting at the seat of the Hungarian Association. The next day, the delegation traveled to Berehove, where they were received by the head of the office, János Makuk, and his staff at the headquarters of the Berehove District Malteser Charity Service. At the meeting, Pavlo Titko, as coordinator of Malteser Ukraine, reported on the work of the Order of Malta in Ukraine, not only since the beginning of the war, but since its foundation 30 years ago. He spoke of a sense of predestination in the mission of the Order of Malta in Ukraine, with its Christian values and the quality of its work. János Makuk and Roman Yaruckyk spoke in more detail about the work of their local units, Berehove and Ivano-Frankivsk, also emphasizing the 30-year presence of the Order of Malta and its recognized role in Ukraine. Afterwards, the delegation visited the warehouse that the Order of Malta has in Berehove, through which more than a thousand tons of humanitarian aid have been distributed in all parts of Ukraine since the beginning of the war, through nearly three hundred local partners. János Makuk especially thanked the Order of Malta for its international aid and the volunteers from many countries of the world, who are making this possible.
This visit gave the participants a strong motivation to further enhance and target their aid operations for war-torn Ukraine, and to strengthen coordination among themselves.
